“Somebody’s Got Some ‘Splainin’ to Do”

Remember that recent shooting in California? You know, the one where a US citizen went abroad; married a foreign national from a nation known for having a high level of terrorist activity; brought their spouse back to the US – and less than 18 months later the two murdered 14 and wounded 20+ in a terrorist attack? The terrorist attack that recently occurred in San Bernardino?

Well, guess what? It turns out that the foreign national involved apparently had a history of making social media posts supporting violent jihad – and saying they wanted to be a part of same. But it also turns out that the foreign national passed three separate background checks during the process of being granted entry into the US.

Yep, you read that right. Apparently no one involved in the visa approval investigation process checked social media to see what the individual in question may have said there in the past. Those social media posts were only recently found by US LE agencies.

Plus, the screening also missed the fact that the foreign national had used a false address on their visa application. Yeah, all of that all really gives me the proverbial “warm and fuzzy” regarding our ability to screen thousands of “Syrian refugees” (and others from countries with known terrorist issues) who might attempt to enter the US in the future. I mean, we did such a “bang-up job” of screening out someone with terrorist inclinations in this case.

But rest assured, we’re “thoroughly vetting” all those thousands of Syrian refugees. None of them will pose a threat – even if they’re using a Syrian passport forged by Da’esh using captured official Syrian passport making equipment and blanks. Or a bogus Syrian passport from another source.

Yeah, right. And I’m the Crown Prince of Siam.

Predictably, the US DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, says that the K-1 visa problem is being reviewed. However, regarding the screening process having missed something in this case that should have raised a concern, Johnson said, “. . . I am not prepared to say that and I’m not prepared to make that declaration”.

You see, it turns out DHS doesn’t review social media when making visa decisions in cases similar to this. In fact, there appears to be an ongoing debate within DHS regarding whether it is “appropriate” to do that.

Well, Mr. Secretary – you might not be prepared to say that the process screwed up here, and needs to be changed dramatically – but I certainly am. Your agency screwed up royally here. This all should have been found prior to the individual being granted or denied entry into the US. It should have been considered while making that decision.

In my book, to paraphrase the late Desi Arnaz (in his Rickey Ricardo persona): “Somebody’s got some ‘splainin’ to do”. And that “somebody” would be you, Mr. Secretary. Along with your boss.

You can both explain it to the surviving family of those 14 killed in San Bernardino. And to those recovering after being wounded.

Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", Barack Obama/Joe Biden, DHS, Terror War