U.S. won't share Ft Hood evidence with Senate-Gates

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (Reuters) - The Obama administration, facing a subpoena threat from Congress, will not share information that could compromise its prosecution of the suspected gunman in last year's Fort Hood shooting, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.

Two U.S. senators vowed on Thursday to subpoena the Obama administration next week unless it produces information sought in a congressional investigation of last year's rampage at the Texas military base, which killed 13 soldiers.

They said the Justice and Defence departments had until Monday to provide the information or face legal action.

Gates, speaking to reporters after attending a Caribbean security conference in Barbados, said the U.S. government had no interest in hiding information from Congress but the legal case against Major Nidal Malik Hasan had to take priority.

"Anything that does not have any impact on that prosecution, we are more than willing to share," Gates said.

"But what's most important is this prosecution. And we will cooperate with the committee in every way -- with that single caveat, that whatever we provide doesn't compromise the prosecution."

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, an independent, and Susan Collins, the panel's top Republican, have been trying for months to obtain specific information about the rampage, which also left many wounded.

The senators said their committee wanted access to documents and witnesses regarding what the FBI and Defence Department knew about Hasan before the shootings. They have rejected administration claims the information could compromise the pending prosecution of Hasan.

Lieberman and Collins said the Pentagon and FBI had turned over some documents to their committee but they primarily involved background material.

The Justice and Defence departments officials sent a joint letter on Monday to Lieberman and Collins telling them that turning over the information and its disclosure could compromise the case against Hasan, who was severely wounded in the incident.

Gates suggested the Obama administration was unwilling to reconsider its position ahead of the threatened deadline.

The subpoena could be an unwanted distraction for a White House already under pressure to cut unemployment, nominate a new Supreme Court justice, pass climate change legislation and regulate the financial industry.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, has been charged by the military with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. The case drew heavy criticism after it became known Hasan had been in contact with an anti-American Muslim figure sympathetic to al Qaeda. His trial is expected later this year.

Lieberman has said his committee wants to know why the suspect was not stopped before shooting spree.

Gates said internal reviews ordered after the shooting had already led to changes with the Defence Department and the U.S. armed forces. The reviews exposed shortcomings in both intelligence and oversight.

(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro and Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington; Editing by Bill Trott)

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