FBI: California shooters radicalized at least 2 years ago

[webfact]

FBI: California shooters radicalized at least 2 years ago
By ERIC TUCKER and ASIF SHAHZAD

WASHINGTON (AP) — The two San Bernardino shooters were radicalized at least two years ago — well before one of them came to the U.S. on a fiancée visa — and had discussed jihad and martyrdom as early as 2013, FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday in providing the most specific details to date about the couple's path toward extremism.

Investigators are also looking at whether the husband accused in the shootings was planning an attack in 2012 but abandoned those plans, according to two people familiar with the investigation who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

One week into its investigation, the FBI now believes that Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, embraced radical Islamic ideology even before they had begun their online relationship and that Malik held extremist views before she arrived in the U.S. last year, Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Though the FBI believes the pair was inspired in part by Islamic State ideology — Malik pledged allegiance to the group's leader in a Facebook post around the time of last week's massacre — agents are still looking for other motivations and sources of radicalization, especially because the couple's interest in extremism predates the terror group's emergence as a household name.

"ISIL inspiration may well have been part of this, but these two killers were staring to radicalize towards martyrdom and jihad as early as 2013," said Comey, using an acronym for the Islamic State. "And so that's really before ISIL became the global jihad leader that it is."

The latest disclosure also suggests that the government's vetting process failed to detect Malik's radicalization when she applied for the visa, though Comey said he didn't know enough to say whether weaknesses in the visa process enabled her to enter the U.S.

"After this hearing today, every American will be asking the question, how did this woman come in on a fiancée visa?" said Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and member of the committee.

Malik came to the United States in July 2014 from Pakistan after being approved for a K-1, or fiancée visa, and married Farook the following month. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has said the Obama administration is now reviewing the program. He did not say what changes were being considered.

Malik's father, reached in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, condemned his daughter's actions and said he is "very, very sad. ... I am in such pain that I cannot even describe it."

The father, Gulzar Ahmed Malik, has been a resident in the kingdom since the early 1980s, the Saudi Interior Ministry says. His daughter was from Pakistan but traveled to Saudi Arabia. A former classmate, Afsheen Butt, said Malik showed drastic changes after a trip to Saudi Arabia in late 2008 or early 2009.

Last week's shooting attack at a holiday party killed 14 people and left 21 injured. Former neighbor Enrique Marquez bought the two rifles used in the attack, officials say.

One law enforcement official briefed on the investigation says Marquez has told investigators that he and Farook planned an attack in the United States in 2012 but abandoned the idea. Marquez is a relative of Farook's through marriage. The official says it's unclear what spooked them into cancelling the apparent plot.

Comey described the couple as an example of homegrown violent extremists who appear to have radicalized "in place," drawing a distinction between the San Bernardino attack and the one last month in Paris that officials suspect involved planning and training in Syria. He said the FBI did not yet know if the marriage was arranged by a foreign terrorist organization.

The FBI has revealed little else of what it's learned about Farook and Malik and their planning, except for details about the weaponry they had, materials they had to make more pipe bombs and that both had been taking target practice.

A U.S. official said Tuesday authorities are looking into a deposit made to Farook's bank account before the attack. The official, who had been briefed on the investigation but was not authorized to discuss it by name and spoke on condition of anonymity, would not characterize further the nature of the deposit or why it had caught the attention of investigators. A second official confirmed that the deposit was for $28,500.

Though Comey declined to answer questions about whether encrypted communication had been used before the attack, he did use the appearance to reiterate his longstanding concerns that criminals, terrorists and spies can use encryption applications on their smartphones to evade detection from law enforcement.

"Increasingly, we are unable to see what they say, which gives them a tremendous advantage," he said.

He said one of the gunmen in last May's shooting outside a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, had exchanged more than 100 messages with an overseas suspected terrorist prior to the attack that investigators still had been unable to access. Investigators were concerned that the location might be targeted, and ensured that law enforcement officers were ready. The two gunmen were shot dead by police.

"We have no idea what he said because those messages were encrypted," Comey said. "And to this day, I can't tell you what he said with that terrorist 109 times the morning of that attack. That is a big problem. We have to grapple with it."

America's counterterrorism infrastructure has had success flagging individuals who try to travel abroad to fight alongside militants, fund operations overseas or who communicate online with overseas terrorists. But it's been far more challenging for law enforcement to identify each individual who self-radicalizes online.
___

Shahzad reported from Islamabad. Alicia A. Caldwell and Tami Abdollah in Washington, Brian Melley in Los Angeles and Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan, contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-12-10

[ezzra]

Don't go tell it to Obama or he will tell you that you're stalking the flame of islamophobia and there is

no such thing as radical Muslims... only good Muslims...

[user82374298374]

The only reason they couldn't see the encrypted comms is because they were too lazy/arrogant to get a warrant (the Texas shooters were already persons of interest) to compromise the endpoints - e.g., the phones/devices themselves. Once you're on the device the person of interest is using, you can see everything he does, irrespective of whatever encryption is being used.

[spidermike007]

I wonder if Obama will now have the courage, and the manhood to admit there is a terrorist problem at home, and that extremist Muslims are to blame? Will we ever hear him utter the words extremist Muslims? Will we ever hear him ask the moderate Muslim community to perform their duty and speak out about the atrocities? Many of us want to see the rest of the Muslim community get involved in the fight against the pigs. Speak out. Go and fight against the extremists. Encourage your governments back home to speak out. Lecture and criticize your local Iman for NOT speaking out. Do something. Can you not see where all of this is potentially headed?

[Usernames]

Last week's shooting attack at a holiday party killed 14 people and left 21 injured. Former neighbor Enrique Marquez bought the two rifles used in the attack, officials say.

One law enforcement official briefed on the investigation says Marquez has told investigators that he and Farook planned an attack in the United States in 2012 but abandoned the idea. Marquez is a relative of Farook's through marriage. The official says it's unclear what spooked them into cancelling the apparent plot.

Is this guy under arrest? What is his status? Wonder if any moslems will start a petition demanding any action on this?

[puukao]

Am I the only one glad I'm not just beginning my life now???? I can only imagine the next 100-years will all these nutjobs.....

[Kevbo]

Am I the only one glad I'm not just beginning my life now???? I can only imagine the next 100-years will all these nutjobs.....

[Kevbo]

No you're not the only one, feel sorry for my grandkids having a lifelong fight with these cockroaches....

As for "moderate muslims" they all want the same thing, sharia law and a black flag above 10 Downing St

[Acharn]

Don't go tell it to Obama or he will tell you that you're stalking the flame of islamophobia and there is

no such thing as radical Muslims... only good Muslims...

Seems pretty clear to me this wasn't about jihad or radicalism. One of the people Farook worked with was a loud-mouthed bigoted racist who reportedly was constantly shooting his mouth off about the ethnic groups he despised, including Muslims. He was a Born-Again Christian/Messianic Jew, which is a totally weird tiny cult group of Jews who want to help the Apocalypse arrive so the Messiah will come and raise the Jews to heaven while sending all the goyim to Hell. Apparently he was loudly proclaiming how disgusting Muslims are on the day of the Christmas Party, and apparently he set Farook off. So Farook and his wife had all the stuff they had stockpiled years before and decided to wipe out the years of insults and injuries they had received from the other people who worked with Farook. The FBI, of course, wants to sell this as terrorism, but I think it's more a disgruntled employee going postal.

[Muzarella]

Hummmm...Bad news... A Thai fiance will have some trouble to get the US visa now....considering that Thailand have also Muslim population.

[Steely Dan]

The only reason they couldn't see the encrypted comms is because they were too lazy/arrogant to get a warrant (the Texas shooters were already persons of interest) to compromise the endpoints - e.g., the phones/devices themselves. Once you're on the device the person of interest is using, you can see everything he does, irrespective of whatever encryption is being used.

The various Obama administration restrictions on profiling by law enforcement may also be why the murderers were not monitored more closely.

[Steely Dan]

Don't go tell it to Obama or he will tell you that you're stalking the flame of islamophobia and there is

no such thing as radical Muslims... only good Muslims...

Seems pretty clear to me this wasn't about jihad or radicalism. One of the people Farook worked with was a loud-mouthed bigoted racist who reportedly was constantly shooting his mouth off about the ethnic groups he despised, including Muslims. He was a Born-Again Christian/Messianic Jew, which is a totally weird tiny cult group of Jews who want to help the Apocalypse arrive so the Messiah will come and raise the Jews to heaven while sending all the goyim to Hell. Apparently he was loudly proclaiming how disgusting Muslims are on the day of the Christmas Party, and apparently he set Farook off. So Farook and his wife had all the stuff they had stockpiled years before and decided to wipe out the years of insults and injuries they had received from the other people who worked with Farook. The FBI, of course, wants to sell this as terrorism, but I think it's more a disgruntled employee going postal.

This is the nauseating and ghoulish equivalence argument penned by a filthy hack journalist. It is offensive on so many levels. Freedom of speech is a constitutional right, words are never equivalent to the act of murder, 13 were murdered incidentally. Then there is the racism of low expectations, in other words avoid any contentious dialogue with Muslims or you might get murdered and you will then be to blame seeing as Muslims are evidently expected to react violently. The murder had links to foreign terrorists, he had built up an armory including 12 pipe bombs. And you really expect anyone to believe it was all due to a workplace argument? Edited December 10, 2015 by Steely Dan

[MrTee]

I'm not one for conspiracy theories - But I am always sceptical.


I came across this

http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/12/eyewitness-to-san-bernardino-says-it-wasnt-couple/#

Now if it were just some written words I'd take no notice, but here you have a witness talking reported on LA news say it wasn't this couple.

The site reports that he is not the only witness to say it was not the same people.

What do other TVF members think about this?

[rhodie]

I'm not one for conspiracy theories - But I am always sceptical.

I came across this

http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/12/eyewitness-to-san-bernardino-says-it-wasnt-couple/#

Now if it were just some written words I'd take no notice, but here you have a witness talking reported on LA news say it wasn't this couple.

The site reports that he is not the only witness to say it was not the same people.

What do other TVF members think about this?

Here we go.

[Usernames]

I'm not one for conspiracy theories - But I am always sceptical.

I came across this

http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/12/eyewitness-to-san-bernardino-says-it-wasnt-couple/#

Now if it were just some written words I'd take no notice, but here you have a witness talking reported on LA news say it wasn't this couple.

The site reports that he is not the only witness to say it was not the same people.

What do other TVF members think about this?

I would say that you are nutz. Just who was involved in the shootout with police then. Body snatchers. Real nut stuff.

[simple1]

Hummmm...Bad news... A Thai fiance will have some trouble to get the US visa now....considering that Thailand have also Muslim population.

Thai ID documents the holders religion

Edited December 10, 2015 by simple1

[MrTee]

I'm not one for conspiracy theories - But I am always sceptical.

I came across this

http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/12/eyewitness-to-san-bernardino-says-it-wasnt-couple/#

Now if it were just some written words I'd take no notice, but here you have a witness talking reported on LA news say it wasn't this couple.

The site reports that he is not the only witness to say it was not the same people.

What do other TVF members think about this?

I would say that you are nutz. Just who was involved in the shootout with police then. Body snatchers. Real nut stuff.

LOL how am I nutz?

The guy, who witnessed the attack, says its not the same person. and he is not the only one - there are at least 3 witnesses reporting it was someone other than the couple. I'm pretty certain the couple that were in a "shootout" with the police were the couple.

I'm not saying that he is right, I wasn't there, I am not a witness..

I have no idea what goes down in the far reaches of the US or how its is reported in the US media..

[bark]

Don't go tell it to Obama or he will tell you that you're stalking the flame of islamophobia and there is

no such thing as radical Muslims... only good Muslims...

Seems pretty clear to me this wasn't about jihad or radicalism. One of the people Farook worked with was a loud-mouthed bigoted racist who reportedly was constantly shooting his mouth off about the ethnic groups he despised, including Muslims. He was a Born-Again Christian/Messianic Jew, which is a totally weird tiny cult group of Jews who want to help the Apocalypse arrive so the Messiah will come and raise the Jews to heaven while sending all the goyim to Hell. Apparently he was loudly proclaiming how disgusting Muslims are on the day of the Christmas Party, and apparently he set Farook off. So Farook and his wife had all the stuff they had stockpiled years before and decided to wipe out the years of insults and injuries they had received from the other people who worked with Farook. The FBI, of course, wants to sell this as terrorism, but I think it's more a disgruntled employee going postal.

Really you believe this ? The moon is also made of cheese !! Can I sell you swamp land in Florida !! Really I think your girl friend is Beautiful !!

[chuckd]

Don't go tell it to Obama or he will tell you that you're stalking the flame of islamophobia and there is

no such thing as radical Muslims... only good Muslims...

Seems pretty clear to me this wasn't about jihad or radicalism. One of the people Farook worked with was a loud-mouthed bigoted racist who reportedly was constantly shooting his mouth off about the ethnic groups he despised, including Muslims. He was a Born-Again Christian/Messianic Jew, which is a totally weird tiny cult group of Jews who want to help the Apocalypse arrive so the Messiah will come and raise the Jews to heaven while sending all the goyim to Hell. Apparently he was loudly proclaiming how disgusting Muslims are on the day of the Christmas Party, and apparently he set Farook off. So Farook and his wife had all the stuff they had stockpiled years before and decided to wipe out the years of insults and injuries they had received from the other people who worked with Farook. The FBI, of course, wants to sell this as terrorism, but I think it's more a disgruntled employee going postal.

Your post is one of the more egregious attempts to shift the blame from a shooter to a victim that I can remember.

The post has not one redeeming feature.

[chuckd]

I wonder if Obama will now have the courage, and the manhood to admit there is a terrorist problem at home, and that extremist Muslims are to blame? Will we ever hear him utter the words extremist Muslims? Will we ever hear him ask the moderate Muslim community to perform their duty and speak out about the atrocities? Many of us want to see the rest of the Muslim community get involved in the fight against the pigs. Speak out. Go and fight against the extremists. Encourage your governments back home to speak out. Lecture and criticize your local Iman for NOT speaking out. Do something. Can you not see where all of this is potentially headed?

It would seem Donald Trump is the only politician that has the guts to take a stand as you suggest.

Strange world, indeed.

[chilli42]

I wonder if Obama will now have the courage, and the manhood to admit there is a terrorist problem at home, and that extremist Muslims are to blame? Will we ever hear him utter the words extremist Muslims? Will we ever hear him ask the moderate Muslim community to perform their duty and speak out about the atrocities? Many of us want to see the rest of the Muslim community get involved in the fight against the pigs. Speak out. Go and fight against the extremists. Encourage your governments back home to speak out. Lecture and criticize your local Iman for NOT speaking out. Do something. Can you not see where all of this is potentially headed?

When he does that he best have a plan to deal with the panic of Muslims being killed.

[F4UCorsair]

Don't go tell it to Obama or he will tell you that you're stalking the flame of islamophobia and there is

no such thing as radical Muslims... only good Muslims...

Seems pretty clear to me this wasn't about jihad or radicalism. One of the people Farook worked with was a loud-mouthed bigoted racist who reportedly was constantly shooting his mouth off about the ethnic groups he despised, including Muslims. He was a Born-Again Christian/Messianic Jew, which is a totally weird tiny cult group of Jews who want to help the Apocalypse arrive so the Messiah will come and raise the Jews to heaven while sending all the goyim to Hell. Apparently he was loudly proclaiming how disgusting Muslims are on the day of the Christmas Party, and apparently he set Farook off. So Farook and his wife had all the stuff they had stockpiled years before and decided to wipe out the years of insults and injuries they had received from the other people who worked with Farook. The FBI, of course, wants to sell this as terrorism, but I think it's more a disgruntled employee going postal.

To quote John McEnroe......

You CAN'T be serious!!!!

Trolling or GROSS stupidity??

Edited to add 'GROSS'.

Edited December 10, 2015 by F4UCorsair

[spidermike007]

Don't go tell it to Obama or he will tell you that you're stalking the flame of islamophobia and there is

no such thing as radical Muslims... only good Muslims...

Seems pretty clear to me this wasn't about jihad or radicalism. One of the people Farook worked with was a loud-mouthed bigoted racist who reportedly was constantly shooting his mouth off about the ethnic groups he despised, including Muslims. He was a Born-Again Christian/Messianic Jew, which is a totally weird tiny cult group of Jews who want to help the Apocalypse arrive so the Messiah will come and raise the Jews to heaven while sending all the goyim to Hell. Apparently he was loudly proclaiming how disgusting Muslims are on the day of the Christmas Party, and apparently he set Farook off. So Farook and his wife had all the stuff they had stockpiled years before and decided to wipe out the years of insults and injuries they had received from the other people who worked with Farook. The FBI, of course, wants to sell this as terrorism, but I think it's more a disgruntled employee going postal.

To quote John McEnroe......

You CAN'T be serious!!!!

Trolling or GROSS stupidity??

Edited to add 'GROSS'.

This is a distinct possibility. Selling this as terrorism feeds right into the hands of several government agencies, allows their budgets to increase, their staff to enlarge, their weapons and equipment procurements to continue, etc. It allows further militarization of the police, and validates the wasteful budgets of the NSA, and so many other agencies, that are barely pulling their weight. It also allows increased spying on American citizens. They did not fit the profile of a mole, in my opinion. Sure they were radicalized, but <deleted> does that mean anyway? I have about as much trust in the US authorities, as I do in the Thai authorities. That is close to zero.

[SgtRock]

spidermike007, on 11 Dec 2015 - 10:09, said:

This is a distinct possibility. Selling this as terrorism feeds right into the hands of several government agencies, allows their budgets to increase, their staff to enlarge, their weapons and equipment procurements to continue, etc. It allows further militarization of the police, and validates the wasteful budgets of the NSA, and so many other agencies, that are barely pulling their weight. It also allows increased spying on American citizens. They did not fit the profile of a mole, in my opinion. Sure they were radicalized, but <deleted> does that mean anyway? I have about as much trust in the US authorities, as I do in the Thai authorities. That is close to zero.

Taken in isolation and if it was confined to the US I would agree with you.

Looking from a worldwide perspective, a whole different picture emerges.

[Steely Dan]

The only reason they couldn't see the encrypted comms is because they were too lazy/arrogant to get a warrant (the Texas shooters were already persons of interest) to compromise the endpoints - e.g., the phones/devices themselves. Once you're on the device the person of interest is using, you can see everything he does, irrespective of whatever encryption is being used.

The various Obama administration restrictions on profiling by law enforcement may also be why the murderers were not monitored more closely.

Looks like I was right, the hands of law enforcement were tied and 13 people are now dead.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35094415

Malik underwent three background checks as part of the process to obtain a K-1 (commonly known as a "fiancee visa") to enter the United States and marry fellow attacker Syed Farook, the New York Times reported.

None of those screenings would have likely checked Malik's social media activity due to a secret US policy prohibiting security officials from reviewing social media activity of would-be immigrants, according to ABC News.

But we'll fight every state resisting its share of Syrian 'refugees'.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Steely Dan