California shooter not fully investigated prior to visa issuance

The report came as U.S. officials said that since the San Bernardino attack, the USA government has begun testing new procedures for reviewing social media activity of foreigners seeking United States entry visas.

A former senior counter-terrorism official, who participated in the 2014 discussion, said, “Why the State Department and Homeland Security Department have not leveraged the power of social media is beyond me”. Those posts were uncovered during the post-shooting investigation, but not during her visa application process because “immigration officials do not routinely review social media as part of their background checks”, the Times said.

Tester last week outlined his national security agenda, which included enhancing the visa waiver program and closing a loophole to prevent suspected terrorists from buying guns.

Malik and Farook killed at least 14 people December 2 during a county health department holiday party in Southern California.

McCaul said the House is “working on legislation to change this” if the administration doesn’t, adding: “I think it’s absurd and it’s risky to the American people to not be looking at this kind of information”.

Both Malik and Farook made use of Facebook in order to declare their allegiance to the Islamic State on the day of the attacks at the Inland Regional Center. The page was under an alias. The page was under an alias.

Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday that Farook was radicalized as early as 2010 and Malik as far back as 2012, which would have been years before her visa was processed.

“The Department will continue to ensure that any use of social media in its vetting program is consistent with current law and appropriately takes into account civil rights and civil liberties and privacy protections”, Catron said.

“We believe these checks, focused on possible connections to terrorist activity, should be incorporated into DHS’s vetting process for visa determinations, and that this policy should be implemented as soon as possible”, the letter said.

She was also interviewed by the US consulate in Pakistan, and the New York Times reported that she was interviewed by a USA immigration officer in the United States before being granted a permanent resident’s green card.

Farook, the US-born son of Pakistani immigrants, and Malik, a Pakistani native he married a year ago in Saudi Arabia, were killed in a shootout with police hours after the assault in San Bernardino, 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

Certain DHS officials are now allowed to look at social media posts as part of law enforcement investigations.

ISIS and other organizations have been known to use social media to communicate and recruit.

The revelation comes as members of Congress question why USA officials failed to review the social media posts of San Bernardino terrorist Tashfeen Malik.

But technology industry representatives say that would become a massive new liability for companies, chill free speech online and increase the number of reports funneled to law enforcement, making it hard to find credible threats.