Pentagon Turns Down Senate Panel's Subpoena for Fort Hood Documents

The Defense Department said Tuesday it could not release the personnel file of Maj. Nidal Hasan, the suspected shooter in the Fort Hood killing spree last November, to the two senators seeking it as part of the subpoenas they served to the Obama administration on Monday.

Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, the top Republican on the panel, want access to Hasan's file to see if there was evidence shoved aside by his bosses that he was an insider threat because of his extremist views.

The senators are also calling on the administration to release by next Monday prosecutorial interviews with witnesses, a supplement to the Pentagon's independent review. They also want to have interviews arranged with Pentagon and FBI officials who investigated Hasan after his contact with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

But in a written statement, Defense Department spokesman Les Melnyk said releasing Hasan's personnel file might jeopardize the ongoing prosecution of Hasan – an assertion the senators dispute.

"All of our actions taken to date, and all actions that will be taken in the future, are to ensure the safety of our personnel and facilities and to remain vigilant to any and all threats," Melnyk said, who quoted Defense Secretary Robert Gates' statement last week that the Pentagon would provide Congress with any information it could so long as the information wouldn't hurt the prosecution's case.

"The department has and continues to cooperate with Congress while ensuring the integrity of both the administration's own internal reviews as well as the criminal investigation and prosecution of Nidal Hassan," he said.

The two senators have said the subpoenas were issued "with great disappointment and reluctance." They said the committee had sent four formal requests for information to the Pentagon and two to the Justice Department but received little response.

"Our efforts have been met with delay, the production of little that was not already publicly available, and shifting reasons why the departments are withholding the documents and witnesses that we have requested," they wrote to Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder in a letter notifying them of the decision.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., defended the actions of his fellow senators.

"Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins would not have issued subpoenas if they didn't feel frustrated," he told Fox News. "They are not the kind to leap into something. They've been trying for months to get the information they think is necessary for them to carry out their duties as chair and co chair of the Homeland Security Committee."

As part of an ongoing investigation, Fox News has learned that al-Awlaki was a spiritual adviser to at least two of the Sept. 11 hijackers and he is the link between the attempted Christmas Day bombing suspect Farouk Abdulmutullab and the bombmaker in Yemen.

On Friday, the Justice Department publicly released dozens of internal CIA e-mails which are part of an ongoing investigation into the destruction of video tapes which showed waterboarding.

The case of Hasan has been of particular interest to lawmakers because of his suspected tied to foreign terrorists and his promotion through the military's ranks despite repeated concerns over his performance and behavior.

An internal Defense Department review concluded that several unidentified medical officers failed to use "appropriate judgment and standards of officership" when reviewing Hasan's performance as a student, internist and psychiatric resident.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.