Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Intelligence agencies intercepted communications between a Muslim religious leader in Yemen known for his anti-American views and Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspect in the Nov. 5 shootings at a Texas Army base that left 13 dead, a U.S. official said.

The communications, which started last year and continued this year before the attack, didn’t prompt a formal investigation by the U.S. because there was no indication Hasan posed a threat, the official said yesterday.

Hasan’s communications were with Anwar al Awlaki, who moved to Yemen after holding the post of imam at a Falls Church, Virginia, mosque where Hasan previously worshipped, according to the official. The communications were collected by the U.S. as part of an investigation unrelated to Hasan, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe is continuing.

Investigators haven’t found evidence that Hasan acted with conspirators or under the direction of anyone else in the shootings at Fort Hood, U.S. investigators said separately at a briefing for reporters in Washington last night. Hasan, who hasn’t been charged, likely will be tried in military proceedings, the officials said at the briefing.

Investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Army are trying to determine what motivated the attack.

John Galligan, an attorney in Belton, Texas, representing Hasan, declined to comment today. Hasan asked for an attorney when investigators tried to speak with him on Nov. 8.

Lawmaker Questions

Lawmakers are asking if authorities missed signs that Hasan, 39, was dangerous. The Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled to receive a closed-door briefing from Army officials on Nov. 16.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the senior Republican on the Senate homeland security committee, said the panel could hold a hearing as early as next week on what motivated Hasan.

“We have not received any definitive information at this point, so it’s impossible to assess whether this was a lone wolf who self-radicalized or whether he was radicalized through contacts with other Islamists,” she told reporters in Washington yesterday.

Military Record

Investigative officials said at last night’s briefing that Hasan had communicated about 10 to 20 times with an individual overseas since last year. They declined to name the person. The communications were shared with a U.S. terrorism task force that includes representatives from multiple federal agencies.

The communications prompted a review of Hasan’s military record, which turned up no indication he was a danger, the officials said. Under U.S. rules, the officials said they had no cause to open a formal investigation.

Intelligence agencies determined that Hasan’s communications were consistent with research he was conducting, the officials said. He served as an Army psychiatrist and at one point had been examining post-traumatic stress.

Hasan has requested that his medical condition not be divulged, said Maria Gallegos, a spokeswoman for Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. Earlier today, Gallegos said Hasan’s condition was critical though stable. He suffered gunshot wounds during the attack.

The attack left 43 people at Fort Hood injured, 15 of whom remained hospitalized, according to Army Private Jada Kent, a base spokeswoman.

Hoekstra Letter

Representative Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, in a Nov. 7 letter asked the heads of the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies to preserve all information related to the shootings.

“I have been made aware of information from the intelligence community that suggests the possibility that serious issues exist with respect to the performance of U.S. intelligence agencies,” Hoekstra wrote.

In the letter, Hoekstra said he was “troubled” he hadn’t been provided specific information on the case he had asked for.

Silvestre Reyes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said it is premature to criticize the government’s actions. “I am disappointed that some have rushed to the news media with unfounded information in order to gain headlines,” Reyes, a Texas Democrat, said in a statement.

Internal Review

The FBI is conducting an internal review of how it handled the case, one of the investigative officials said at the briefing.

The U.S. is probing ties between Hasan and al Awlaki, who was an imam at Dar Al Hijarah Islamic Center, the mosque in Virginia, a U.S. official said.

A Web posting purportedly from al Awlaki praised the shooting at Fort Hood. Calling Hasan “a hero,” the posting said, “Nidal opened fire on soldiers who were on their way to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. How can there be any dispute about the virtue of what he has done?”

Awlaki was an imam at mosques in the U.S. attended by three hijackers in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a report by the U.S. government’s Sept. 11 commission. He was born in New Mexico, grew up in Yemen and studied in the U.S. on a Yemeni government scholarship, the report said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net; Jeff Bliss in Washington jbliss@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 10, 2009 19:12 EST