The Federal Bureau of Investigation has investigated over 100 cases of suspected Islamic extremists either in the U.S. military or closely associated with it.
About a dozen of the cases are considered “serious,” according to a report from National Public Radio — based on a closed House-Senate committee hearing in December. There is no indication as to whether the number has increased in the ensuing six months. This is the first time the number of cases has been publicly reported.
“Serious” cases include suspects who are planning attacks or are in touch with “dangerous individuals.”
Both the FBI and Department of Defense declined to comment to The Daily Caller about the investigations.
Sources familiar with the investigation confirmed the case number to NPR. The threats reportedly include both active and reserve military personnel, individuals with access to military facilities and even family members of people with military dependent ID cards.
Since the 2009 Fort Hood massacre — in which a radicalized Army Major opened fire on base, killing 13 and injuring dozens more — the Pentagon and FBI have been on high alert to prevent similar attacks.
“I was surprised and struck by the numbers; they were larger than I expected,” Connecticut independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, said.
“I know one can say that as a percentage of the millions of people in active military service or working with contractors, the numbers you talk about are a small percentage of the total,” he added, “but the reality is it only took one man, Nidal Hasan, to kill 13 people at Fort Hood and injure a lot more.”
Lieberman would not confirm the numbers.
Hasan faces the death penalty. His trial begins August 20.