AUSTIN, Texas — The head of an independent team assigned to unravel the root cause behind systemic violence and sexual assaults plaguing Fort Hood told Congress this week that the agents assigned to solve crimes on post have for years lacked enough experience and leadership to properly respond.
Christopher Swecker — a lawyer and 24-year veteran of the FBI who last year led the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee that investigated the post in the wake of 20-year-old Spc. Vanessa Guillen’s brutal slaying — said Tuesday that during his team’s investigation he learned that the majority of Fort Hood’s Criminal Investigation Command was made up of apprentice agents with less than three years’ experience who operated without much, if any, expert oversight.
As a result, the slew of criminal investigations at Fort Hood often went incomplete, along with paperwork to back up that the agents properly handled the cases. Swecker also said it appeared that agents took a checklist approach to investigations, frequently failing to use forensics to solve crimes and letting expire phone tracking programs used in investigating crimes or searching for missing soldiers.
“I wouldn’t lay the blame on the individual special agents, I think it’s more the system,” Swecker said, explaining to lawmakers that Fort Hood agents who have any level of experience often leave the Central Texas training post for better advancement opportunities.
“They themselves are victims of a system,” he added, referring to the agents.
Swecker said Fort Hood’s Criminal Investigation Command, or CID, was also severely understaffed. He said for about two years leading up to Guillen’s death, which ultimately sparked investigations into the post, Fort Hood’s CID was on average about 60% understaffed.
“In essence, we found that it was a training ground,” Swecker said. “There were simply too few journeyman-level agents to work the complex sex crimes cases, death cases, while still mentoring the large number of inexperienced and uncredentialed special agents who were constantly transferring in and out.”
Swecker’s statements on Capitol Hill Tuesday appeared damning because it could explain why it took Army investigators months to use forensics testing to find blood residue in the weapons room on post where Guillen was last seen.
Authorities now believe a fellow Fort Hood soldier, Spc. Aaron David Robinson, killed Guillen with a hammer in that post armory on April 22. He remained working on post until July 1, when Killeen police say he took his own life as they tried to detain him for questioning after Guillen’s dismembered remains were found near the Leon River in Bell County.
However, Killeen police have refused to give the Austin American-Statesman body camera footage of Robinson’s death, citing laws that allow video to be withheld if a suspect dies and cannot be convicted of a crime.
Swecker’s testimony about the lack of experienced Fort Hood CID agents could also explain why it took investigators several weeks to find text messages and track Guillen’s phone, which eventually placed Robinson with Guillen just minutes before she was last seen on post.
Maj. Gen. Donna Martin, commanding general of the U.S Army’s Criminal Investigation Command, was also called to testify to lawmakers Tuesday.
Martin told U.S. House members she was actively working to modernize the Army’s CID protocols and practices at a national level, not just at Fort Hood, after accepting the findings of the independent investigation in full.
Those practices so far include a female mentorship program for women to discuss their concerns within the military and a separate training program to teach soldiers how to help prevent sexual assault and harassment on post.
Martin said CID leaders are also trying to improve collaborations with local law enforcement to solve crimes.
“We can and we will do better,” Martin said Tuesday. “Since the report was released, Fort Hood has taken immediate actions on several of Fort Hood Independent Review Committee’s recommendations.
“I do not take this report lightly,” she continued. “Reforming CID is my top priority. I acknowledge the necessity of the task ahead.”
However, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said she was upset with Martin’s approach so far in responding to the findings of the Fort Hood investigation.
“I must tell you, I’m truly disappointed, that is the extent of what you have gleaned from the report,” Speier said, disputing Martin’s previous statements that Fort Hood’s CID and Killeen police work together to solve violent crimes.
Speier said Killeen police, during the time of the Fort Hood investigation last summer, asked for better working relationships to solve crimes but received no response from Fort Hood CID.
Guillen’s mother and sisters also expressed similar frustrations with the lack of communication among military and civilian authorities at and around the Central Texas post.
“I’m happy to report that that is being addressed currently,” Martin said about the lack of collaboration, adding that Army leaders were also working on long-term plans to make sure experienced agents stay working at Fort Hood’s CID for longer.
Army leaders on Tuesday also answered questions from lawmakers about how Fort Hood was now handling cases involving sex crimes.
Lawmakers on Tuesday asked Martin how many backlogged cases of sexual assault had yet to be properly investigated at Fort Hood, but Martin said she did not have that data on hand.
“Women who I have been hearing from feel like inaction is a signal,” said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas Tuesday. “It’s a signal that their leadership doesn’t care.”
Investigators with the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee on Tuesday said the leaders of the post’s Sexual Assault and Harassment Program, or SHARP, told them that three out of four female soldiers between the ages of 18 to 23 are sexually assaulted or harassed within eight months of being stationed at Fort Hood.
“It was almost an initiation to be sexually assaulted or sexually harassed,” said Mary Counts, a former FBI supervisory special agent who also investigated Fort Hood. “That was unbelievable to me. One, that this was happening, but two that this was known by people who were in the program that are supposed to prevent this kind of behavior.”
Investigators said it appeared the SHARP program not only failed to protect soldiers last summer when the investigation first began, but also neglected their duties dating back as far as 2013.
Swecker on Tuesday said SHARP was also a failed system, with the majority of leaders focused on deploying soldiers rather than worrying about solving sex crimes.
In just a few days of interviewing female soldiers on post, Swecker’s team identified several serial sex offenders where Fort Hood CID agents had not, Swecker said.
Andrew Bland III, former FBI special agent in charge who was also on Swecker’s investigation team, called what he found at Fort Hood “a perfect storm” that stretched past just CID and SHARP leadership and ultimately allowed for post-wide oversight and a culture of crimes.
Lawmakers on Tuesday said they plan to return to Fort Hood later this year to track the progress leaders from CID and the SHARP program were making to solve the issues on post.
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