[Excerpt:  "...to understand Hasan’s motivation, everyone involved in counterterrorism needs to understand the ideology of jihadists and how to identify it."]

Counterterror officials believe there’s no doubt that Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s alleged attack on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood was an act of Islamist jihadi terrorism.

The officials, who were interviewed by HSToday.us on background because of the sensitivity of their positions, said the evidence that they have reviewed clearly shows that Hasan was carrying out the jihad against infidels that extremist Islamists believe is their religious duty, and that he sought out and received inspiration and guidance from Islamist jihadist websites operated by elements of Al Qaeda.

The officials also said they want to know why the dots that a variety of intelligence and law enforcement agencies and observations and reports within the military regarding Hasan weren’t connected.

“Had some sharp and astute analyst somewhere had all this intel – had all these dots in front of him – I don’t see how an alarm wouldn’t have been sounded,” one of the officials said, adding, “we’ve known that possibility that lone Muslims who adhere to extremist ideology can become jihadists – we know that, it’s happened before,” the official continued.

Walid Phares, an Islamic scholar who is Director of the Future of Terrorism Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and author of, Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against the West, and The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy, wrote that "the main question we should be asking is when did Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan become radicalized and who indoctrinated him? Everything else will fall in place once we have these answers."

Phares stated last week in an interview with World Defense Review that “what made Maj. Hasan tick is ideology. What made him attack that day at that hour is to be investigated. If our analysts, especially within the government, can’t figure out what makes a Jihadist – lone wolf or not – tick, we have a problem.”

Continuing, Phares stated that “the US government and many in the media are confused by the fact that he adhered to an ideology and used the narrative of that ideology for years, yet he was able to conceal it for so long. If the attack had taken place in Pakistan, Egypt, or even Saudi Arabia, with the same statements made by the perpetrator, neither authorities nor citizens would ask the question. It would be a given that it is Jihadi Salafist narrative. Officials would know immediately what they were dealing with. The ‘caution’ we are told to follow here in the US is political. It is not based on reason or any scientific logic.”

“US leaders must be precise in identifying the ideology, explain it to the public and at the same time warn citizens as regards unfair and illegal backlashes. I am not sure decision-makers are getting the best advice,” Phares said.

Veteran, seasoned counterterrorists said they agree with Phares – that it’s clear Hasan should have more closely been investigated for whether he believed in the potentially deadly jihadist activity that he eventually allegedly engaged in.

Al Qaeda leaders have openly praised Hasan for his act of jihad against the infidel US military.

“The fingerprints of Jihadism are all over the place,” Phares said. “Whether-or-not Hasan met or conspired with any known terrorist or radical Jihadist, is not the point. He himself was indoctrinated, and he made the decision to wage war or terror against unarmed US military personnel on US soil. That is enough to understand the essence of this case.

“If the investigation reveals more physical links to terrorism, that should be examined thoroughly.  In my analysis, any mass murder with Jihadi commitment is terrorism by all international convention. Problem is, the administration is not likely to admit the ideological link. For if they do, it might collapse the expressed expertise of their advisors regarding ‘Arab and Muslim-world affairs.’ The latter have pressed the administration to abandon the ideological identification of the terrorists.”

The active duty counterterrorists who talked to HSToday.us agreed. They said to understand Hasan’s motivation, everyone involved in counterterrorism needs to understand the ideology of jihadists and how to identify it.

“This isn’t something that can be ignored or overlooked,” one of the officials said. “We have to understand the nature of the jihadist ideology and how it is capable of causing an individual believer to do what Hasan [allegedly] did.”