Stephen Browne: Social media matters

Regarding the shootings in San Bernardino: Tashfeen Malik passed three background checks by American immigration officials. None uncovered what Malik talked about openly on social media. She said she supported violent jihad and wanted to be a part of it.

Had U.S. authorities checked her posts years ago, they might have kept her out of the country. But immigration officials do not routinely review social media as part of their background checks, and there is a debate inside the Department of Homeland Security over whether it is even appropriate to do so. Are we kidding? Openly advocating for violent jihad on social media is not relevant to an immigration background check?

Apparently someone has to actually shoot a few people, then they’ll look at their social media to see why they did it. Yikes!

This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Stephen Browne: Social media matters."