US defense chief acknowledges "red flags" with suspected shooter

  
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday acknowledged there were some "red flags" easy to spot in hindsight about the case of the suspected Washington Navy Yard shooter but did not cast judgment about who, if anyone, was to blame.          

"Obviously when you go back in hindsight and look at all this there were some red flags -- of course there were. And should we have picked them up? Why didn't we? How could we have? All those questions need to be answered," Hagel told a news conference.          

Hagel also noted that he was putting his deputy in charge of in-depth reviews of U.S. military security worldwide in the wake of the Washington Navy Yard shooting, including into security clearances like the one given to the suspected shooter.                           

"Time frame, the depth of the clearance, kind of clearance, access, different clearances given to individuals. We're going to look at all that," Hagel said.                 

"Obviously the longer clearances go without review, there is some jeopardy to that. There's no question about it. So we're going to take a look at every one of those components."


REUTERS