FBI: San Bernardino attackers didn’t show public support for jihad on social media

[deminks]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/12/16/fbi-san-bernardino-attackers-didnt-show-public-support-for-jihad-on-social-media/?postshare=6511450298759495&tid=ss_tw

NEW YORK — The two attackers who opened fire in San Bernardino, Calif., earlier this month had not posted publicly on social media sites about supporting jihad, FBI Director James B. Comey said Wednesday.

The husband-and-wife duo were “showing signs in their communication of their joint commitment to jihad and to martyrdom” through private messages, rather than publicly visible postings, Comey said.

“Those communications are direct, private messages,” Comey said during a news conference here. “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. I’ve seen some reporting on that, and that’s a garble.”

(end snip)

So, what else are we being fed that is bullsh*t? Hmmm?

[ucrdem]

1. It sounds like Farook's friend Marquez wasn't able to help them make the case.

I imagine things might have gone easier for him if he had.

[deminks]

2. The FBI just blasted reporting on the San Bernardino killings

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/12/16/the-fbi-just-blasted-reporting-on-the-san-bernardino-killings/

A whoa moment here: FBI Director James B. Comey today told the media that the suspected assailants in the San Bernardino, Calif., massacre — Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik — wrote private messages to each other stating support for jihad. However: “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. I’ve seen some reporting on that, and that’s a garble,” Comey said at a media availability during an event in New York City.

A garble, huh?

Here’s the headline on a New York Times story that appeared on page A1 on Sunday: “Visa Screening Missed an Attacker’s Zealotry on Social Media.” The story was straightforward, noting that three immigration checks for Malik had missed something critical: “None uncovered what Ms. Malik had made little effort to hide — that she talked openly on social media about her views on violent jihad,” wrote Matt Apuzzo, Michael S. Schmidt and Julia Preston. The reporting is sourced to “American law enforcement officials,” and the existence of these postings is the centerpiece of the article.

(snip)

The Los Angeles Times, in a Monday article, alleged that Malik had “sent at least two private messages on Facebook to a small group of Pakistani friends in 2012 and 2014, pledging her support for Islamic jihad and saying she hoped to join the fight one day,” according to the report from Richard A. Serrano. That tidbit is sourced to “two top federal law enforcement officials.” Again, the information is deployed to question the competency of U.S. anti-terrorism officials. “The new details indicate U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies missed warnings on social media that Malik was a potential threat before she entered the United States on a K-1 fiancee visa in July 2014,” writes Serrano, who notes that FBI agents “recovered” the messages.

These reports set fire to the news system. All sorts of follow-up reports surfaced. And straight into the political arena it went. “It’s not a lack of competence that is preventing the Obama administration from stopping these attacks. It is political correctness. We didn’t monitor the Facebook posting of the female San Bernardino terrorist because the Obama DHS thought it would be inappropriate. She made a public call to jihad, and they didn’t target it.”

That quote came from Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) at Tuesday’s CNN debate in Las Vegas.

(end snip)

[ucrdem]

3. I caught a few minutes of Comey's recent Congressional testimony on CSPAN.

He was going on about how predators on social media prey on weak and lonely individuals searching for meaning and therefore he needs the ability to decode encrypted messages. Now it turns out there's no evidence of said predation? How quickly stories change.

[LiberalAndProud]

4. Well, good on the FBI for not missing their Facebook posts.

I suppose Comey thinks this exonerates the oversight. I don't think it does.

[840high]

5. +1

[Jesus Malverde]

6. It came from the SITE "intelligence" group

Anything Rita Katz presents one should be skeptical about. She has an agenda.