Gates names two to review Fort Hood shooting case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday named two former military officials to lead a review of the deadly Fort Hood shooting rampage, saying it was important to do everything possible to prevent such a thing from happening again.

Thirteen people were slain at the Army base in Texas Nov. 5 when a military psychiatrist who was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan went on a shooting spree.

The case drew criticism after it became known that the psychiatrist, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, had been in contact with a Muslim figure sympathetic to al Qaeda. Hasan is a U.S.-born Muslim of Palestinian descent.

"My reaction was, I'm sure, the same as almost everybody in the country, which is one of horror," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.

"The most important thing for us now is to find out what actually happened, put all the facts together and figure out a way where we can do everything possible so that nothing like this ever happens again."

Saying the case had raised troubling questions, Gates named former Army Secretary Togo West and retired Admiral Vernon Clark, the former Chief of Naval Operations, to head a 45-day review looking at whether there were institutional shortcomings in the Pentagon's handling of Hasan's case.

Gates said the review would not interfere or prejudice a pending criminal investigation of the shootings.

He said it look at whether there were gaps in Defense Department procedures meant to identify service members who could pose a threat to others. The review also would look at whether bases had adequate security and emergency response capabilities, Gates said.

President Barack Obama has ordered a review of how U.S. intelligence agencies handled information they may have gathered about Hasan. The case is under criminal investigation, and a Senate panel is also looking into it.

(Editing by Chris Wilson)