WHY WERE THEY TOLD TO STAND DOWN - WHO ORDERED THE STAND DOWN

Navy Yard shooting: Swat team awaits answers Days after the shooting, none of the officers has been questioned by officials or investigators from a special panel that was convened on Wednesday. Members of the Containment and Emergency Response Team (Cert) are typically debriefed "right away, at the very least the following day" after an incident, a Capitol Police source said.
"[They] haven't even been given the courtesy of a debrief They have not even been given an answer as to why the decision was made that they should not respond," the source added. Another Capitol Police source close to the incident told the BBC: "No-one's talked to these officers since this happened."
On Thursday, members of the tactical unit, which has several dozen members, were told that it had a new leader, a Capitol Police source said. It is not clear why the command shake-up occurred. Four Cert team members wearing full tactical gear and armed with HK-416 assault weapons arrived on scene at Navy Yard at 08:36 (12:36 GMT) on Monday, after reports surfaced of an active gunman at the complex at 08:20. According to sources, an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Washington DC's main municipal force, told the Capitol Cert officers they were the only police on site equipped with long guns, and requested their help stopping the gunman.
When the Capitol Police team radioed their superiors, they were told by a watch commander to leave the scene, the BBC was told. On Thursday, FBI Director James B Comey Jr told ABC News it took roughly half an hour for armed police to arrive and engage Alexis. All 12 victims were killed within that time. Capitol Police sources suggest "lives may have been saved" if the Cert team had been allowed to intervene.
One officer close to the situation called the lack of communication from department leadership "unforgivable". Details of the gunman and the shooting continue to emerge. Alexis, a former Navy reservist, reportedly had a history of mental health problems and gun-related brushes with the law. He had sought treatment for insomnia at two Veterans Affairs hospitals in the last month, according to media reports.
Defence subcontractor IT worker who had a valid pass for Navy Yard Reportedly suffered from sleeplessness, paranoia and hearing voices. Full-time US Navy reservist from 2007-11, ranked petty officer 3rd class. Said to have been Buddhist convert, he had gun-related brushes with law in 2004 and 2010.
Read More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24163244


Army veteran charged with joining terrorists in Syria pleads guilty to lesser charge
Ex-U.S. soldier Eric Harroun, who allegedly fought alongside an Al Qaeda affiliate against the forces of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Thursday and was sentenced to time served, The Military Times reported. Harroun, a Phoenix native, was charged in June with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to use destructive devices overseas, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. Those charges, one of which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted, were reduced to a charge of conspiring to violate arms-control laws, the report said. U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton accepted the plea on the lesser charge. The case posed a political dilemma for the Justice Department. Harroun was fighting for the Syrian rebels, who are supported by the Obama State Department.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/20/army-veteran-charged-with-joining-terrorists-in-syria-pleads-guilty-to-lesser/