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Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who shot down 13 people at Fort Hood military base, had financial link with Pakistan. This information was disclosed by a US lawmaker and he has urged the investigators to probe into this scenario.
Media reports quoted Michael McCaul, top Republican on the Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives, saying that Hasan was involved in wire transfers to Pakistan.
"He may have friends or relatives or whatever and this could be totally (innocent)”, he said McCaul. "But if he is wiring money to Pakistan, that could be terrorist financing. If he was receiving money from Pakistan, then that is more significant."
But he said that he had no information regarding if Hasan received or transferred money to Pakistan. He said the lack of additional information is why Congress should launch an investigation.
Hasan, 39, was wounded during the Nov 5 attack in Fort Hood was placed under custody immediately. Hasan has since been charged with 13 counts of pre-planned murder. It is not yet known if he could face the death penalty if a guilty verdict is delivered.
Meanwhile, Tom Ridge, the former US Homeland Security secretary, has said he suspects that the shooting spree was terror-related, and is not convinced about notion that the attack was related to combat stress.
He told a TV channel that as in several previous state-side tragedies, it may well turn out that US authorities had enough information at their fingertips to identify "a very, very serious problem".
"I guess, we are going to go, just as we did after September 11, 2001, just after we did after the horrible tragedy of Virginia Tech, we all have the benefit of 20-20 hindsight," Ridge told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.
"But once again, it appears that there were different pieces of information, different observations, different investigations that had an individual or individuals collected them all together, would have pointed out that they had a very, very serious problem," he said.
Ridge said investigators will be looking to determine if any clues were missed and how information was being shared between different branches of law enforcement.
"One of the challenges of the upcoming investigation is to really determine who knew what, when did they know it, and with whom did they share it," he said.
The questions over Hasan's alleged financial dealings in Pakistan are underscored by reports that the army major rented a modest apartment, which cost only $350 per month. He also drove a 2006 Honda and lived frugally.
However, Hasan likely earned $92,000 in basic salary per year and was eligible for a living allowance of about $16,000 per year. He may have also qualified for a $20,000 yearly incentive payout.
