{"id":20939,"date":"2020-12-10T00:55:43","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T00:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/12\/10\/fort-hood-report-highlights-army-cids-failings-there-and-possibly-elsewhere\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:12:19","slug":"fort-hood-report-highlights-army-cids-failings-there-and-possibly-elsewhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2020\/12\/10\/fort-hood-report-highlights-army-cids-failings-there-and-possibly-elsewhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Hood report highlights Army CID\u2019s failings there, and possibly elsewhere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An independent report<\/a> on the command climate at Fort Hood, Texas, shined a light on years-long issues with the post\u2019s criminal investigation detachment and showed how those problems were exposed during the search for Spc. Vanessa Guillen<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An independent committee of five civilians found that the more than 40 Army CID agents charged with investigating felony crimes and violations of military law at Fort Hood were largely inexperienced, underresourced and understaffed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fort Hood CID detachment was \u201cbasically being used as a training ground,\u201d said Chris Swecker, a former FBI inspector who served on the committee. \u201cThey had a difficult time, and it\u2019s not their fault.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat would be like staffing the New York field office of the FBI with new agents right out of Quantico,\u201d Swecker said Wednesday at a congressional hearing. \u201cThis is one of the busiest military installations in the country, maybe around the globe, and yet there were very few experienced agents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the report focused on the handling of sex crimes, given allegations brought forth by Guillen\u2019s family that she experienced sexual harassment prior to her murder. But the committee found that Fort Hood CID was well short of the number of investigators necessary to handle the workload there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The post\u2019s CID detachment opened roughly 350 sex crime cases annually between fiscal years 2018 and 2020 and could justify an allocation of nine or 10 sexual assault investigators. Yet, the detachment only had three on staff at the time of the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other issues included an incredibly high rate of drug use among Fort Hood soldiers that wasn\u2019t properly dealt with and poor interviewing skills among agents, all of which are being looked at by the larger CID enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are carefully reviewing all of the information in the Report of the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee,\u201d said Chris Grey, a spokesman for Army CID, in a statement to Army Times. \u201cWe recognize the importance of this review and are thankful for the hard work of the committee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Secretary
Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, left, and Gen. James McConville, chief of staff of the Army, right, depart after speaking at a briefing on an investigation into Fort Hood, Texas, at the Pentagon, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, in Washington. (Andrew Harnik\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The report focuses on Fort Hood specifically, but committee members said that the issues they found could extend to other Army installations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere aren\u2019t an anomalous number of death cases at Fort Hood in terms of homicides, but the homicides that did occur got intense media attention,\u201d Swecker said. \u201cWhat we found in the death cases was CID just needed more experience and continuity inside the detachment there and it may be systemic across CID \u2014 that there just isn\u2019t enough longevity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Almost debilitating\u2019 lack of continuity<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There \u201cwas a serious and almost debilitating lack of continuity\u201d among the Fort Hood special agent ranks that hindered their overall mission, the committee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enlisted and warrant officer agents at Fort Hood are typically moved to another installation after reaching the two-year mark, a problem that Swecker said could be solved by hiring more civilian agents who stay on much longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The special agent in charge of Fort Hood CID moved to another post in the middle of the Guillen investigation, \u201cone of the most complex and high profile investigations the office has ever handled,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was noted by local law enforcement and prosecutors who considered it unwise and detrimental to the case,\u201d the document reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\t