Facebook Inc Posts May be Used By Homeland Security For Visa Reviews

Ms. Malik, who spent all her life in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, came to the U.S.in 2014 on a K-1 visa, which is given to fiancées of Americans.

Earlier, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said the House Judiciary Committee was crafting legislation that would require online information, including social media accounts, be reviewed as part of the background check for visa applicants, including K-1 visas.

Certain officials there are allowed to look at visa applicants’ social media posts.

Immigration officials don’t usually review social media posts as part of background checks and most of the process is spent on vetting against marriage fraud. John Cohen, a former acting under-secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and now a national security consultant for ABC News, said he and others pushed for a change in 2014 that would allow a review of social media messages.

“This is just the latest, unfortunate example of this administration’s refusal to proactively address very real threats to our national security”.

The administration has “acknowledged that part of that review is to consider ways to incorporate the use of social media vetting in their screening programs”, Earnest said.

On December 2, 2015, the San Bernardino shooting that transpired at the Inland Regional Center left fourteen people killed and 22 injured by an Islamic extremism-inspired terrorist attack led by Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, where the former is suspected of being tied-in to jihadists recruiter, Sohiel Kabir, as previously reported.

The proposed bill, which has not yet been introduced, would also require relevant agencies check the employment and educational history of visa applicants, along with in-person interviews for the applicant and sponsor “at each step in the process”, the panel said on Monday.

The discovery of the old social media posts has exposed a significant – and perhaps inevitable – shortcoming in how foreigners are screened when they enter the United States, particularly as people everywhere disclose more about themselves online.

Almost two dozen Senate Democrats wrote a letter Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson saying that his department has the ability to investigate social media postings, but does so inconsistently. One of the attackers was on a visa and passed three background checks. She also had to provide fingerprints and a variety of background information. Authorities also vetted her, using intelligence and law enforcement databases.

It later emerged that one of the shooters, Tashfeen Malik, had “pledged allegiance” to ISIS on several social media sites, including Facebook. The page was under an alias.

But that wasn’t the beginning of Malik’s interest in jihad and militant Islam.

“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.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents recovered two Facebook messages as they investigated whether Malik and Farook received any direct encouragement, financial support or specific instructions from any foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Islamic State.