US looking at ways to better screen immigrants

David Bowdich, the assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, would not comment on what the divers were looking for.

Wednesday’s San Bernardino, California, shooting occurred at the Inland Regional Center, a facility for people with developmental disabilities.

The killers were in the area “at some point”, he said, but he did not specify if it was before or after the massacre. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity, the newspaper said.

Marquez spent several days being voluntarily interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and portrayed the two men as hobbyists experimenting with building the devices, the officials said.

Malik and her husband Syed Farook killed 14 and injured 17 in a shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., Dec. 2.

He checked himself in to a mental health facility after the attack and has not been charged with a crime.

As the investigation continues, FBI agents have not yet been able to establish a direct link between the murderous couple and Islamic State.

Officials said that because Malik used a pseudonym in her online messages, it is not clear that her support for terror groups would have become known even if the US conducted a full review of her online traffic.

The disclosures the attacker’s social media had not been reviewed have been met with rage and incredulity.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the homeland security and state departments had been asked to review the process for screening people who apply for visas and to return with specific recommendations.

Lawmakers and academics are scrutinizing the visa process that allowed one of the San Bernardino shooters to immigrate to the USA despite making extremist social media posts.

Another round of tests was ran after she moved to the United States and wedded Farook when she applied for permanent residency. Malik reportedly passed three background checks. She also had to provide fingerprints and a variety of background information. “DHS (Department of Homeland Security) should use every tool at their disposal to do so, including checking Facebook and other social media posts in their overall review, if necessary”. A spokesperson for DHS claims they have now begun screening applicants’ social media history in a small pilot program, but social media vetting is still no widespread.

Pressing criminal charges against him would cut off “any opportunity to let him lead investigators to any other persons or to an organization with whom he may be or may have been in contact with in the furtherance of the San Bernardino attack or other planned terrorist attacks”, one official said.