To the editor:

I am writing this on Veterans Day thinking of my Army friends at Fort Hood and the atrocity done recently by Major Hasan. There appears to be a debate whether or not to call this an act of terrorism. When I was a counterintelligence officer in Europe, our manual defined terrorism as “an act, often violent, designed to influence an audience bigger than the immediate victims.” Hasan’s planned attack certainly had an impact far beyond Fort Hood’s front gate.

According to several sources, this man contacted an al-Qaida recruiter almost two dozen times. Chris Matthews, on “Hardball,” questioned the legality of Hasan contacting al-Qaida, implying it is not unlawful. When I was in the Army, collaboration with the enemy was treated as an act of sedition and treason. Besides murder, Hasan should be tried for these, as well as labeled a terrorist.