SAN BERNARDINO >> Thirteen days after the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11, President Barack Obama on Monday promised to turn up the heat on the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
After a meeting of the National Security Council at the Pentagon, Obama said American special operations commandos are now working with local fighters in Syria to “tighten the squeeze” on Raqqa, which ISIS has declared as its capital. This is in addition to stepped-up bombing of Syrian oil industry infrastructure in an attempt to cut off ISIS’ financial lifeline.
The Obama administration had announced in October that up to 50 special operations troops would be sent to Syria. Monday’s announcement was the first acknowledgement their mission has begun.
Although some of the Republican presidential candidates have called for immediate, aggressive military action, Obama said Monday that “we have to be smart, targeting (ISIS) surgically, with precision” airstrikes while local forces do the ground combat.
After a weekend of attacks on Southern California Muslims, including the firebombing of a Coachella mosque, the desecration of a Hawthorne mosque and the threatened knifing of a Chino Hills Muslim, White House officials pledged vigilance by the Justice Department in pursuing hate crimes and other civil rights violations, calling an attack on any faith an attack on all faiths. Obama’s aides also held separate meetings at the White House with Muslim and Sikh leaders.
In a new Associated Press-GfK poll, seven in 10 Americans rate the risk of an attack in the U.S. as at least somewhat high, up from five in 10 who said that in January. Just 28 percent in the survey said Obama had clearly explained the United States’ goals in fighting ISIS, while 68 percent said he had not.
WOULD-BE IMMIGRANTS
On the same day it outlined its ISIS strategy, the Obama administration also announced procedures for vetting would-be immigrants, with an eye toward examining applicants’ online presence, to close security gaps in the U.S. visa system.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the homeland security and state departments have been asked to review the process for screening people who apply for visas and to return with specific recommendations.
The Homeland Security Department said it is specifically reviewing policies on when authorities at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services can look at social media posts as part of the vetting process for would-be immigrants applying for certain visas.
“I think the president’s top priority here is the national security and safety of the American people,” Earnest said. “And that will continue to be the case with ensuring that this K-1 (fiancé) visa program is effectively implemented.”
Tashfeen Malik, a Pakistani woman who the FBI says carried out the Dec. 2 attack with her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, killing 14 and wounding 22, came to the United States in 2014 on a K-1, or fiancé, visa.
Earnest did not provide specifics of the security review for visas but said one consideration going forward is resources.
The government approved more than 9.9 million visa applications during the 2014 budget year.
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