Secret US policy bans looking at Facebook postings of Jihad and martyrdom by visa applicants

[True Earthling]

San Bernardino terrorist Tashfeen Malik posts Facebook messages of Jihad and martyrdom...but fear of invasion of privacy backlash trumps national security... sickening.

Secret US Policy Blocks Agents From Looking at Social Media of Visa Applicants, Former Official Says
http://abcnews.go.com/US/secret-us-policy-blocks-agents-social-media-visa/story?id=35749325

Fearing a civil liberties backlash and "bad public relations" for the Obama administration, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson refused in early 2014 to end a secret U.S. policy that prohibited immigration officials from reviewing the social media messages of all foreign citizens applying for U.S. visas, a former senior department official said. "During that time period immigration officials were not allowed to use or review social media as part of the screening process," John Cohen, a former acting under-secretary at DHS for intelligence and analysis. Cohen is now a national security consultant for ABC News.

"There is no excuse for not using every resource at our disposal to fully vet individuals before they come to the United States," Cohen said. A former senior counter-terrorism official, who participated in the 2014 discussion, said, "Why the State Department and Homeland Security Department have not leveraged the power of social media is beyond me."

"They felt looking at public postings [of foreign U.S. visa applicants] was an invasion of their privacy," the official told ABC News. "The arguments being made were, and are still, in bad faith."

[Mika]

1. A pro security-state post.

What a way to start the week.

[Iggo]

2. "Herp. Herpa-derp. Herpa-derp-derp," said Cohen.