Tashfeen Malik, who along with her husband killed 14 people in Southern California and three background checks, apparently passed by American officials before she moved to America from Pakistan and not one of them located her social networking posts about jihad. But none uncovered what Malik had made little effort to hide – that she talked openly on social media about her views on violent jihad. On the other hand, The New York Times reports the screenings are tradeoffs as the attempt to reduce the risk of terrorism while keeping the border open for traveling and business.
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Here’s how useless that mutli-layered vetting is.
Others argue, however, that it is impossible to conduct an exhaustive investigation of the social media pages belonging to each of the tens of millions of people coming to the United States annually to work, visit or live.
“We have not commented on the items, or whether they are case-related, due to the ongoing investigation”, Eimiller said, responding to a media report the objects retrieved in the search were not tied to the crimes under investigation. The dive teams were looking to see if they left or stored anything there, the senior official said.
“In cases where those lists do not strike, there is nothing that differentiates them from folks we’d love to welcome to this state”.
“All applicable security checks were done for that individual, Ms. Malik”, said Edward Ramotowski, the department’s deputy assistant for visa services told another Senate panel. First, Homeland Security checked her name against law enforcement and national security databases.
President Barack Obama and officials such as Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson have said that visa procedures will be reviewed because of the attack.
Malik, a Pakistan native, pledged allegiance to ISIS on Facebook moments before opening fire, investigators said.
The FBI has determined that the couple declared they were acting on behalf of the Islamic State. Specifically noting that the process did not detect the radicalization.
“Had the authorities found the posts years ago, they might have kept her out of the US”. 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. They believe that was when she was radicalised.
Lawmakers at three separate hearings, including at which FBI Director James Comey testified, demanded to know how she gained admittance, especially given discrepancies in her application. “She had no contact with any militant outfit or person, male or female”, she said.
She said her sister was religious, studied the Quran and prayed five times a day. In a brief telephone interview, her sister Fehda Malik said that Tashfeen was not an extremist, and she rejected the allegations against her sister. The family was very anxious and tense, before hanging up the phone, she said. “She knew what was right and what was wrong”, Fehda Malik said. If that is confirmed, it would be the most lethal such attack on US soil since the September 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
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The FBI told ABC News they can go back to the lake if they need to, but have no plans to do so at this time.
