The US Army has charged a military psychiatrist with 13 counts of murder in last week's shooting spree at the Fort Hood Army base, which shocked the country as it prepared to celebrate Veterans Day.
President Barack Obama has ordered a review of how US intelligence agencies handled information they may have gathered about Maj Nidal Malik Hasan (39) following questions about whether authorities may have missed warning signs about him.
An army spokesman said yesterday that Maj Hasan (39) was charged with murdering the 13 victims of the November 5th attack at Fort Hood, the world's biggest military facility.
He could face the death penalty and the case has drawn criticism of army intelligence after US agencies said Maj Hasan had been in contact with an Islamic figure sympathetic to al-Qaeda.
Maj Hasan is undergoing treatment at the Brooke Army Medical Centre in San Antonio, Texas, for wounds from the gunshots that took him down during the attack.
If convicted of premeditated murder by a military court he could face the death penalty, a US military official said.
Intelligence agencies learned Maj Hasan had contacts with an Islamist sympathetic to al-Qaeda and relayed the information to law enforcement authorities before last week's attack. Officials have said no action was taken.
Mr Obama sent a memorandum to the secretary of defence, directors of National Intelligence and the Federal Bureau of Investigation dated November 10th and released yesterday. In it he said he ordered the review the day after the shooting.
"I directed that an immediate inventory be conducted of all intelligence in US government files that existed prior to November 6, 2009, relevant to the tragic shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, especially anything having to do with the alleged shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, US Army," the president said.
The president also ordered an immediate review of how intelligence was handled and shared between the intelligence agencies and other government departments.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned government officials not to leak confidential information about the case.
Maj Hasan spent years counselling wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, many of whom had lost limbs fighting in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was transferred to Fort Hood in April and was to have been deployed to Afghanistan.
Reuters