In email, shooter Hasan told radical cleric he looked forward to afterlife

United States Army Major Nidal Hasan told a radical cleric considered by authorities to be an al-Qaeda recruiter, "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife, according to an American official with top secret access to 18 e-mails exchanged between Hasan and the cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, over a six month period between Dec. 2008 and June 2009.

A senior government official tells ABC News that investigators have found that alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan had more unexplained connections to people being tracked by the FBI than just radical cleric al-Awlaki. The official declined to name the individuals but Congressional sources said their names and countries of origin were likely to emerge soon.

"It sounds like code words," said Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, a military analyst at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies. "That he's actually either offering himself up or that he's already crossed that line in his own mind."

Other messages include questions, the official with access to the e-mails said, that include when is jihad appropriate, and whether it is permissible if there are innocents killed in a suicide attack.

"Hasan told Awlaki he couldn't wait to join him in the discussions they would having over non-alcoholic wine in the afterlife," the official said.