A top US Senator today introduced a legislation to include information available on social media while conducting a background check of individuals applying for visa after it was found one of the attackers in shooting in San Bernardino entered the country on a 'fiance visa'.
Introduced by Senator John McCain, the legislation proposes to require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to search social media websites and publicly available information of prospective foreign travellers or immigrants seeking to enter the US.
A radicalised Pakistani-origin couple who federal officials say were inspired by Islamist extremists opened indiscriminate firing on December 2 at a holiday luncheon and killed 14 people.
Many leaders and analysts argue that the shooter could have been prevented from entering the US and a visa being denied if the authorities had reviewed her Facebook postings which clearly showed that she was radicalised and supported terrorist organisations like ISIS.
The legislation followsreports that Tashfeen Malik, one of the San Bernardino attackers, passed three background checks to obtain a K-1 fiance visa despite having made statements in support of violent Islamic extremism on social media, because DHS does not routinely review social media platforms as part of its background check process.
"Following the tragedy in San Bernardino, we have learned that the Obama Administration has declined to review information available on social media platforms to screen for threats from foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States," McCain said on the Senate floor.
"This purposeful refusal to examine publicly available information defies belief, especially as we grapple with complex technical questions to address the problem of criminals and terrorists 'going dark', or utilising readily available encryption to escape court-ordered government search," he said.
It is unacceptable that Congress has to legislate on this, and that it wasn't already the Department of Homeland Security's practice to take such commonsense steps when screening individuals entering this country," he added.
"This is just the latest, unfortunate example of this Administration's refusal to proactively address very real threats to our national security. It is critical that we have the strongest policies and procedures in place for background checks that reflect the evolving security threats facing our nation," McCain said.
