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| This image from video provided by the FBI, shows Aaron Alexis moving through a hallway of Building #197 at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, carrying a Remington 870 shotgun. Senior U.S. officials say the company that employed the Washington Navy Yard shooter withdrew his access to classified material for two days in August when mental health problems became evident, but restored it quickly and never told the Navy about the incident. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- The company that employed the Washington Navy Yard shooter
pulled his access to classified material for two days in August when
mental health problems became evident, but restored it quickly and never
told Navy officials about the withdrawal, The Associated Press has
learned.
An initial Navy review revealed that
the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company, The Experts, ordered computer
contractor Aaron Alexis back to Washington, D.C., after a police
incident in Rhode Island in August, according to senior U.S. officials.
The company then withdrew his ability to access secret-level data for
two days, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.
It did not disclose why his access was reinstated. Less than six weeks
later, the former Navy reservist gunned down 12 civilian workers in a
Navy Yard building, and police fatally shot him.
The Experts did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
The
classified access revelation has raised questions about whether the
company's disclosure of the discipline could have brought Alexis to Navy
officials' attention earlier and perhaps prevented the massacre. The
Navy did an initial review into the matter, but it has not yet been
released. Officials also have done a full investigation, including what
prompted the company's decision and why the government was never told.
Naval leaders now are reviewing that report.
The
shooting spree triggered several Navy and Defense Department reviews
into base security and contractor requirements, including questions
about how thorough the background checks are for security clearances and
whether more vigilant monitoring and reassessments should be done.
While
the Navy reviews have not been released, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has
sent out a notice to the fleet directing all commanders and civilian
leaders in the Navy to scrutinize the records of any personnel who are
allowed to access classified information.
In
the message, Mabus said that this new records review should look at
credit card delinquencies, discipline, police or legal reports and
urinalysis reports.
Mabus said that if
information is discovered that had not been disclosed already, it must
be reported, and commanders must determine whether the employee's access
to classified data should be cut off. He ordered commanders to submit
full reports to Navy and Marine leaders on what they found and any
actions taken by mid-January.
According to
officials familiar with the Navy investigation, The Experts removed
Alexis' access to secret information on August 7 and restored access on
August 9, but there is nothing in the record explaining the decisions.
The timing, however, aligns with the day Alexis called Newport, R.I.,
police, complaining that voices were harassing him through a wall at his
hotel and he worried they might harm him.
Police
said they were called to the Marriott around 6 a.m. on Aug. 7, and
Alexis told them he was in town as a naval contractor and that he
believed people were following him and using a microwave machine to send
vibrations into his body so he could not fall asleep. Police alerted
the local Navy base that day that Aaron Alexis was hearing voices, but
the information went no further.
Under U.S.
rules, The Experts was required to report any behavior that could be
considered detrimental to security, and that information was supposed to
be passed along to the commander at the Washington Navy Yard.
Alexis began working at the Navy Yard this summer refreshing computer systems.
The
Experts said it ran two background checks on Alexis that turned up only
a traffic violation. It also said the Pentagon confirmed twice that
Alexis had a valid security clearance.
Alexis
was granted a secret-level security clearance while in the Navy, and it
carried over when he went to work as a computer contractor. He was
granted access to the Washington Navy Yard and to Building 197 as an
employee of The Experts, a Hewlett-Packard subcontractor.
Hewlett-Packard
Co. has said it was severing ties with The Experts, saying the company
failed to respond appropriately to Alexis' mental health issues. HP has
told U.S. officials that it did not receive any adverse information
reports on Alexis before the September 16 shooting.
In
a note he left behind and found by investigators after the shooting,
Alexis claimed that he was driven to the shooting rampage because he was
being bombarded by extremely low-frequency radio waves. The FBI has
said that the note, along with peculiar carved notations on his gun,
suggested he was in the throes of profound paranoia and delusions.
His
shotgun, which he purchased two days before the shooting from a gun
shop in Virginia, was etched with messages including "My ELF Weapon!" -
an apparent reference to extremely low-frequency waves - and "End to The
Torment!"
In response to the shooting, Mabus
ordered a series of reviews, including four quick studies on Alexis'
Navy career, contractor obligations, the security clearance process and
physical base security. He also ordered two longer reviews - one on
physical security and one encompassing a full investigation into exactly
how the events of the shooting unfolded. All six reviews have been
completed, but they have not yet been released.
Mabus
said that investigation into the shooting must determine whether HP and
The Experts complied with background investigation requirements; find
out who knew about the August police incident and clearance action;
figure out what happened and whether it was reported as required; and if
government or military officials were notified, find out whether proper
procedures were followed.
