Transcripts For ALJAZAM TechKnow 20151204 : vimarsana.com

Just dont know yet. Reporter do we have any information that there may have been something planned for that particular day and for some reason it got moved up . December 7th you said . Reporter yes. Yes, i dont know of any reason why it took place on date. You had a lot of people in that room at that moment. Reporter [ inaudible ] . Any prior cases and if so, was he under active surveillance or not under surveillance . He was not under active surveillance. I do not believe there was any type of investigation pending on him. Reporter but did his name come up in connection with a probe. Im thinking similar to the boston bombing . I dont know at this point. Reporter [ inaudible ] landlord away and said he did not have permission [ inaudible ] do you have any concerns about that being [ inaudible ] . You are going to have to repeat that. Reporter do you have any concerns about the press turning the town home this morning, even though you said you completed the investigation there . One we turn it over or board it up, anyone who goes in at that point, that has nothing to do with us. Reporter sir, you say this is an about of terrorism, does this mean this is the first time if you conclude its a isil, this is the first time that isil has attacked america. I think you are taking a leap there. We are investigating this as an act of terrorism. Reporter were they in telephonic communication with people in the u. S. Or elsewhere . We know they were in Telephonic Communications with people in the u. S. Im not aware of overseas communication. Were working on that. Reporter the family and the lawyers questioned the veracity of the terrorist connection. Is there anything there . What do you have to say to that . Yeah, good question. Yesterday i said to you, the fbi is an organization that is apolitical. We are a factfinding organization, and we deal in fact. I dont have all of those facts yet. So i dont know the answer to the question you asked me. Reporter [ inaudible ] claimed responsibility. Do you have anything on this not unusual that they would their official website where they post all of their video, they have claimed responsibility. Im not surprised. Maybe they did. Maybe they didnt. But it only helps them to be able to attach themselves to an act like this. Reporter is someone detained that gave him the rifles. There is a person of there is we dont know okay. Let me go back on that one. Theres some differentiations. There is a person who purchased those weapons, but ill let atf answer the questions on the guns. The person is not under arrest at this point. But they are being questioned. They are not under arrest at this point. Reporter with that Facebook Post did they pledge allegiance to isil or baghdaddy or im aware of the Facebook Post you are mentioning. I saw the same thing you did. We dont know what is there yet. Reporter Mark Zuckerberg confirms that post had been made, and it had been made just after the attack had started. I know it was in the general time line, and yes, there was a post of allegiance. Reporter tell us about the dynamic of the marriage. There is a lot of curiosity there. And some people are saying that perhaps the wife [ inaudible ]. Can you give us anymore incite . I have been asked that, and i dont know the answer, whether she influenced him or not. Being an husband myself we are all influenced to an extent, but i dont know the answer. Reporter what you have learned about here does that give you anymore belief that this was an act of terrorism . Were investigating as an act of terrorism. Reporter was the fbi aware of her before . We did not have her under investigation previously. Im going to take three more questions and then end. Reporter the telephones were found near the center or near the town house . I believe they were found near the town house . Reporter are you concerned that they were flying under the radar . That you didnt know that they were active . Of course im concerned. Any one of us would have loved to have stopped this act. When you go into a crime scene like that, its horrific. Reporter no awareness that you werent tracking them, that they werent on your radar . Of course im concerned. We didnt know there is nothing we have seen yet that would have triggered us to know. Reporter do you believe this is the existence of a cell . We dont know. What i can tell you is we are not aware of any further threats in the u. S. At this time. I want to go back to your point, maam. You said the government spends a lot of money on surveillance, the fbi is also a federal Law Enforcement agency that is bound by federal law, so we dont do wide sweeping surveillance without legal authorization. Yes, maam . Reporter [ inaudible ] an about of terror. What in practical terms does that mean for them . So what i would say, first of all, i think this this community im going to leave that to the chief and the sheriff to deal with and talk about. They are the true protectors of this community. I would say to this community, you have been incredibly resilient, we stand by you, our focus is to protect the homeland from attack. And we will absolutely engage when we see potential threats. As the director has said many times, we have a number of terrorist investigations across the country currently that are going on, that does include extensive surveillance. So what i would tell the community, continue to do what you do. If you see things that are concerning, push them up to local Law Enforcement immediately. If they rise to a certain level or if you want to push it to local Law Enforcement and the fbi, feel free to do that. But go about your day. Do not let this cause mass hysteria. Were not there. Were not there at all. We have a longterm very complex investigation that we have to complete, and thats going to take time, and a lot of energy, and hours, and agency expertise. But i assure the american public. We will do everything in our power within the law to get that done. Thank you for your time. Next i would like to introduce sheriff john mcman. Thank you, dave. My primary responsibility and the primary responsibility of the Law Enforcement leaders you see behind me is to ensure the safety of the public. There is evidence to suggest there is a terrorist section to this event. We have no known Credible Threats to the communities that we serve. I would ask that the community remain vigilant, dont hesitate to report any suspicious activity to local Law Enforcement. We have added additional resources, as have my partners that stand behind me, to ensure that we have the staff necessary to investigate and protect the communities that we serve. We have nothing to suggest theres anything Additional Associated with this event, but we remain partners up with the Law Enforcement with the fbi, atf, holand security, and if any threats come about that appear to be credible or not, we will fully investigate those to ensure that the public is safe. I would echo that this is a team effort. We all have to Work Together as a team to address situations of this magnitude. We remain committed to working with the fbi, our local partners, our federal partners, to ensure that the resources that are needed are applied to make sure we investigate everything possible, and keep the citizens that we serve safe. Thank you. Reporter sheriff is there a concern that there was no known credible threat in advance and then this occurred, and now were back to an environment where theres no known credible threat, and could San Bernardino or any other town in the nation be facing the same kind of thing happening an hour from now . Certainly thats a possibility. But crimes across our county and state oftentimes occur without any notice. You saw how the men and women of this Law Enforcement agency as well as our partners performed two days ago. Considering how they performed and addressed the issue, i truly believe that we are prepared to deal with whatever threat or incident occurs. Law enforcement is staffed up as i suggested, our local law enforce leaders remain in Constant Contact with one another. And as i suggested, my top priority as well as those that standing behind me is the safety of the public that we serve. Thank you. Okay. We have been listening to this press conference with the latest information from San Bernardino police, the fbi. So a couple of lines we should get to right away here as we get ready to bring in Allen Schauffler, the fbi you heard is now taking over the investigation. They are now the lead agency in this investigation. But i guess the headline is that this is officially, this crime, is officially being investigated as an act of terrorism. They wouldnt go so far as calling this the first isil attack on america. They certainly cannot make the distinction, and this is an important one, in an area that i think there is going to be a lot of discussion about, certainly today and i suspect over the next couple of days. The fbi cannot say if this was an attack that was instructed by isil; that perhaps the couple involved here was simply inspired by, but not instructed by isil. There is evidence that the subjects that the couple here tried to destroy their digital fingerprints. We heard from the fbi that there were a couple of cell phones found in the immediate proximity of the center, and that those cell phones had been destroyed, no credible information that there is a threat to any of the surrounding areas. Is the News Conference continuing or was this typed from earlier . All right. The fine says the female shooter had not been previously under investigation, and could not say whether she was an influencing factor in the decision to carry out this attack. There is a line developing there. Syed farooks wife posted her allegiance to isil on facebook the day of the attack. So if you are wondering what has turned the corner here, what information is the fbi going on to make this distinction that it is go longer being investigated as a case of Workplace Violence, but investigated as an about of terrorism, the posting on facebook would point to that. Facebook executives or at least one, saying that the online post praising isil happened as the attacks began. Now there is no indication the group instructed her to do so, we mentioned that a couple of moments ago. But lets get to Allen Schauffler now. He is following this story and has been for a couple of days now. Alan, i guess lets deal with the headline that this is being investigated as an act of terrorism. And let me read the line here. We are investigating it as an act of terror for a good reason. Reporter thats right, the agent saying they are investigating it this way for a very good reason. Repeated questions about what leads him to believe that, he said he is not going to talk about those things in detail. But we have two suspects who were heavily armed with homemade bombs, a bombmaking factory of sorts in their garage lots of weapons or enough weapons and plenty of ammunition, so what we all have seen that might have contributed to the fbis decision. Lets get to the agent, the second man in charge here in the Los Angeles Area for the fbi, and here is the statement he made a couple of moments ago. As of today, based on the information and the facts as we know them, we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism. We have uncovered evidence that has lead us to learn of extensive planning, obviously we have uncovered evidences of explosives. Reporter there has also been a claim by a media outlet that is essentially the Communications Arm of isis, saying that two supporters of the organization, has carried out this attack, and describing that, it stopped short of calling them operatives or agents. The agent said when that isis claim was brought up, he said he is not surprised at all that they have jumped on this bandwagon and made the claim that these were their people or their supporters as the statement said. Again, no Credible Threats that they are aware of in this area or the u. S. At this time. No other suspects in custody at this point. Although he did say that is something that could happen as time goes on, and he reminded all of us this is day 3. I want to introduce somebody right now who was a congragrant in the mosque that farook attended. The fbi coming out and saying were investigating this as a terror case. Your response . I was hoping it wouldnt be. But lets see what the outcome of this is. We dont know exactly what the motive was. Other than that i i dont really have a comment on that. Reporter is it startling to you first of all did you know mr. Farook well . I wasnt in his private circle, his family issues or anything like that. I met him at the mosque regularly for prayers. He would come on his lunch break, and i would meet him then, and, you know, of course it is devastating, theres no word to describe my my shock and my communitys shock. This was a person that we knew that was a good person, that was a nice individual, a very respectful person, and to hear that he is behind this acrosty is unbelievable. Were mourning our community is mourning alongside our fellow community members. Were mourning. We are crying for them, were trying to be there for them, and honor the losses they had. The fbi saying they are working with their foreign partners overseas now to see if there is any connection, and also saying they are looking into the claim from isis that these were supporters who carried out that attack. Your response to that claim through the Communications Arm of the Islamic State. I dont know. I know that as we learned, you know, recently that isis is using the media very well, and this is the method they are using to recruit. And the mosque locally, they are against this type of activity, this type of teaching if i myself would have known this is the type of ideology he had, i would have reported him. I wouldnt have let it come to this. We are americans. Yes, we are muslim. But we are here with the nation together. Its not us versus you. Its we. I was born here. This is my city. So i have been here my whole life, so i take this personally. Reporter thank you very much. Appreciate you taking some time today. A pleasure. Again, the bomb shell, of course today from the fbi was yep, were investigating this as terrorism, period. Tony . Yeah, alan thank you. I want to give you a moment here from the News Conference that wrapped up about ten minutes ago to give you a sense of how widespread this investigation is in terms of getting information about this attack. Have a listen. We are working hand in hand with our other federal, local, and state partners. We are also working hand in hand with our foreign counterparts to ensure that we find any connections that pertain to this matter. All right. Im going to get to Jamie Mcintyre now. Jamie, i know there was a White House Press briefing. Was there any news. I know there were questions about the ongoing investigation. What can you tell us about that . Well, the white house was deferring to the fbi. There were a lot of questions about was this now a terrorism attack, especially with this news that one of the people involved the woman, had apparently made this posting to facebook pledging allegiance to isil. But the white house was deferring, waiting for the fbi to make that aunderstand noment. It became pretty obvious, i think when they went to the house and discovered the arsenal of munitions there, the the bombmaking equipment, that this wasnt just a workplace event, but now we have the official word from the fbi, and its interesting to me that they really believed that the digital fingerprints may lead them to answer the big question, which is what is the motive. At one point, the fbi agent referred to it as possibly the Golden Nugget that would help understand the case. Yes. Reporter and he mentioned the two cell phones had been crushed, but he also said they were still mining them for data, and thats one of the things the fbi is very good at is retrieving data from devices that have supposedly been disabled. He also mentioned that there had been efforts to erase their digital fingerprints. So right now that seems to be the most promising avenue of attack. The fbi did not go so far yet as to make the connection to isil overseas, and also said obviously that it would be to isils benefit to claim responsibility. And you notice in that claim that we have, it basically says two people carried this out. It doesnt actually say getting back to your original point that they were directed by isil. So those were the questions directed at the fbi. They said we are a factfinding organization, we rely on facts. Yeah, this claim of isil responsibility, this apparently comes from a proisil news agency that is claiming that isil is claiming, right, so it gets a little tenuous here. Jamie what about the information you are learning or maybe mentioned in the briefing today about the shooters brother. Well, interesting, this information came out very shortly after the shooting. But it turns out he had a brother also named syed farook. He joined the navy back in 2003. He served four years. He was an it specialist, he got out after one routine term. His Service Record is routine in both a good and bad way. And he got out in 2007. Tail of two brothers, i guess. Yeah, one serving the country, and the other at least according to what were hearing today, this is an investigation about terrorism, and its being investigated that way. Yeah, a tail of two brothers, indeed. Jamie appreciate. Lets bring in j. J. Green. He is Al Jazeera America National Security contributor. J. J. What does this say to you . Today the fbi comes forward to essentially say, one, were taking over this investigation; and two, this is being investigated as an act of terrorism for a good reason. Reporter several thi thick things tony. They are being very careful and cautious about who or what makes them think this is a terrorist investigation, aside from the obvious. There is some evidence that there were some communications between the two with some persons of interest that the fbi was looking at. They say that happened telephonically, according to the assistant director in charge of the fbi in los angeles. But here is the most important piece of it. There has been rampant reporting that the wife pledged allegiance to isil on facebook or social media. He said we are aware of that. Its really difficult to figure out if it was her or someone else that made that claim. Although we do know that the Islamic State is very good at tracking women, because they recognize that women can be attracted to violence and that other lifestyle as well as men. But the fbi has been very careful because of semantics and leverage. Its so interesting because having a cashe of weapons and pipe bombs alone, is not enough to make the connection. So thats not enough. A posting on facebook is not enough, because your have not to track the source of that. So thats not enough to make the connection. But there is clearly something that has lead the fbi to say this is now a terrorism investigation, and im not sure im clear. Are you clearer than i am as to what it is that the the fbi is working on here that has lead them to come out and and and make this statement . This is a strong statement. It takes Workplace Violence off of the table. One of the things i have learned from dealing with the fbi and any Intelligence Agency for a number of years, is you never tell all you know. Absolute loi absolutely. Reporter what is clear to me is the fbi is well accustomed to what it takes to classify something as a terrorism situation, but as i was mentioning, there is an issue of semantics. Because calling this the first isil attack on the homeland has a significant amount of absolutely j. J. Green. Say it again. Reporter so they are being very careful about whether or not they say this before they are absolutely sure, because what that does, it is gives as you know, and everybody else knows im not telling anybody they dont know, it gives the Islamic State propaganda material. Yes. And that can generate other people interested, in engaging and acting out. And one other thing, the fbi has some very good forensic capabilities. They want to know who they have, what they have, and perhaps what they dont have. Exactly. I think you are right to suggest they will go through those phones and retrieve everything they can, and build a narrative, because we dont have a narrative, yet. We dont have the story yet. And they are working on it. I would be helpful if they would take a little time, maybe call fewer press conferences and put that narrative together for us, but we will continue to follow developments here, and we will bring you the very latest on all of this at 7 00 pm eastern time. Welcome to Al Jazeera America. More reporters, more stories, more perspective. From our awardwinning news teams across america and beyond. Weve got global news covered. Tonight free speech is the bed rock of a free society, but are there limits and would enforcing those limits threaten our freedom. Should school kids be trained to fight back against gunman and my final thought on how saudi arabia is misterying a major opportunity to separate stiffly from i. S. I. L. Im ali velshi. This is third rail. After i. S. I. L. 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