While Comey “said that while the perpetrators of the December 2 shootings in San Bernardino, California – Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 29 – had expressed support for “jihad and martyrdom” in private communications, they never did so on social media”.
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After Comey revealed last week that the pair became radicalized at least two years before the attack – and before the woman, Tashfeen Malik, applied for a K-1 visa to come to the USA – lawmakers have been clamoring for answers about how the government did not detect the threat they posed.
The San Bernardino shootings have been described as an act of terror.
“So far, in this investigation we have found no evidence of posting on social media by either of them at that period in time and thereafter reflecting their commitment to jihad or to martyrdom”.
Comey made the remarks at a press conference following his speech at the NYPD Shield Conference in New York City.
“We are not going to break the Internet; we are not going to jeopardize people’s security”, he said.
Mr Comey said the FBI now has “hundreds” of investigations in all 50 states linked to possible IS-inspired plots.
The Islamic State, a terrorist group also known as ISIS or ISIL, formally declared a caliphate in 2014 across parts of Iraq and Syria.
Comey said Islamic State has perfected the use of social media, and Twitter in particular, to contact potential followers in the United States and elsewhere.
He said one of the assailants had exchanged 109 messages with a known overseas terrorist shortly before the shooting, which targeted a contest involving cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Comey also said the July 16 attack in two military sites in Chattanooga, during which five USA service members were killed, was “inspired and motivated by foreign terrorist propaganda”. Previous reports claimed they were inspired by the Islamic State, but that has yet to be confirmed.
He added that despite the challenges facing investigators, he is convinced law enforcement can work with technology companies without compromising personal privacy.
He and Farook were neighbors in the Californian town of Riverside for around a decade, according to The New York Times.
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Regarding social media, Comey said ISIS has revolutionized terror through this medium. This isn’t “your parents” al-Qaeda anymore, meaning the days of terrorists attacking visible landmarks by careful and methodical planning that evaded detection, long-term surveillance, and using a multiple operatives in coordinated attacks are over. “If they really think that this is someone who will kill on their behalf they make another move, they move them from twitter direct messaging, which we can get access to with lawful process, to a mobile messaging app that is end-to-end encrypted”.
