SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — A U.S. intelligence official says one of the shooters who killed 14 people in California had been in touch on social media with extremists who are under FBI scrutiny.
The official would not further describe the contacts by Syed Rizwan Farook. He would not be quoted because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The official says investigators are still trying to determine whether and how he became radicalized and whether he was in contact with any foreign terrorist organization.
— From Associated Press writer Ken Dilanian in Washington, D.C.
Once again the trillion dollar surveillance complex pays off in spades … after the fact.
And no, I won’t point out that any 10-year-old with a first generation smart phone could do the same thing.
I wonder what kind of scrutiny that was? If the FBI was on to the contacts did they not think it important to check out the folks they were regularly talking to? I’m not so sure any of this “scrutiny” worth a shit. It seems after these tragedies start revealing their backgrounds there s always some “scrutiny” that was not given the concern it should have been.
scenario: wannabee domestic jihadist tries to reach out on social media and gets hooked by undercover FBI who goad him on just a little bit? I can see how the first question to the wannabee would be something like “Oh yeah? Then prove it!”
a bit too much Twilight Zone?
If our “trillion dollar surveillance complex” tries to do better, the Edward Snowdens of the world will have a fit because they believe terrorists deserve absolute privacy in their own affairs, even if those affairs include mass murder. How dare any government interfere with private enterprise!
If our 'trillion dollar surveillance complex" spent a little less money vacuuming up everything they could and a little more actually paying field agents to FOLLOW the leads they get, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. If your going to invade American’s privacy, it would help if you aren’t ALSO incompetent at the task.