San Bernardino Massacre Raises Significant Questions

Terror struck America again this week.  While there are many more questions than answers in the early days of the ongoing investigation into the brutal massacre in San Bernardino, California - emerging details raise more concerns about protecting the homeland.

First, our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, families, brave first responders, and residents of San Bernardino in the wake of this horrific attack.

More details continue to emerge from authorities.

Fourteen people were murdered and 21 others were injured when Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire at the Inland Regional Center.

Here’s what we know:

• This attack was pre-planned with authorities saying the two were “on a mission.”

• The terrorists left their 6-month old child with grandparents.

• They walked into the meeting room and fired between 65 and 75 rounds in seconds. 

• They brought with them a massive pipe bomb, designed to be detonated by a remote controlled toy car – a tactic used by radical Islamists.

• Their home was booby-trapped and officials said it resembled more of a bomb factory than a residence.

• Inside the house, 12 more pipe bombs were found along with hundreds of tools to construct bombs and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

The FBI has confirmed that the suspects travelled internationally.   Authorities say Farook went to Pakistan at one point and his wife was in the U.S. on a visa with a Pakistani passport. Saudi Arabia’s embassy has reportedly confirmed that Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia last year.

CNN has reported that Farook was “radicalized and in touch with people being investigated by the FBI for international terrorism.”  CBS News reports that a source said that “the pair were looking at ISIS propaganda online.”

The FBI, which is in charge of the investigation, says it has not determined a motive and is not yet in a position to label this tragic attack as “terrorism.”

Clearly this investigation is just beginning and federal investigators say they will follow the facts.

But there are many important questions being asked now:

• Were these terrorists connected to or inspired by ISIS (the Islamic State) or other radical jihadists?

• Were these terrorists radicalized? If so, how and where? 

• If they were connected to international terrorists, were there intelligence gaps?  Should we have known about them before they acted? 

• Who were these terrorists working with?

All important questions.  The American people are understandably on edge. They want answers.

They want to know if what happened in San Bernardino is the work of a couple of deranged residents or if it’s linked to the brutal terror campaign by radical jihadists – a terror campaign that shook the Boston Marathon in 2013 and devastated the city of Paris just a few weeks ago.