The FBI is "under-resourced" to handle the high volume of potential terrorism cases in the United States, retired Gen. Michael Hayden said Wednesday, adding that "political correctness" is impacting how authorities deal with threats.
Hayden, a former director of both the National Security Agency and the CIA, discussed the 2009 Fort Hood shooting with Jake Tapper on CNN. U.S. Army major Nidal Hasan, a Muslim, killed 13 people in that attack.
The Washington Free Beacon posted a clip onto YouTube.
"I think the Army backed away from this because of, for want of a better term, political correctness," Hayden said. "They didn't want to bite off the issue that they might have gotten into had they gone after Hasan given his religious leanings."
The discussion then turned toward the FBI in the wake of last weekend's terror attack in Orlando that resulted in 49 people being killed.
"Right now, the bureau is under-resourced to handle that number of cases you and I just discussed, thousands to tens of thousands," Hayden told Tapper. "So, No. 1, the bureau probably needs more resources … Beyond that, the bureau probably needs more tools.
"They need more authorities to use the whole rack of things they're allowed to do in a criminal case."
Hayden said it's almost up the American people to decide what types of liberties the FBI should have.
"How far do you want the bureau to go in terms of invading that individual's privacy?" Hayden said. "Do you want them to go into the Facebook account? Do you want them to go to the e-mails These are very serious questions."
The FBI investigated the shooter in the Orlando attack
on two previous occasions, in 2013 and 2014. Both interviews were deemed "inconclusive" and the cases were closed.
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