The FBI investigated the Orlando shooter for 10 months beginning in 2013, putting him under surveillance, recording his calls and using confidential informants to gauge whether he had been radicalized after the suspect talked at work about his connections with al-Qaeda and dying as a martyr. – Washington Post
President Barack Obama said the shooter who killed 49 people and injured 53 others at an Orlando gay nightclub apparently was self-radicalized and “an example of homegrown extremism.” – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
A day after the shooting, many details of the police response remained in question, and the police account continued to contain crucial gaps — perhaps most critically, what happened during the hours that Mr. Mateen was hiding in a nightclub bathroom as he spoke intermittently to the police by cellphone. – New York Times
The gunman who went on a shooting rampage in a popular gay nightclub here shot nearly all of his victims in the first stages of the assault, then was utterly “cool and calm” while he talked by phone to law enforcement officials about further carnage, claimed allegiance to the Islamic State and praised the Boston Marathon bombers, officials said on Monday. – New York Times
Investigators now face the question of how much the killings were the act of a deeply disturbed man, as his former wife and others described him, and how much he was driven by religious or political ideology. – New York Times
[T]he devastation in Orlando represents a danger that many U.S. counterterrorism officials warn will be harder to contain than the Islamic State’s aspirations for an extremist haven in the Middle East. – Washington Post
The FBI looked for a potential connection between Mateen and Abusalha in 2014 and did not find “ties of any consequence,” aside from the two men knowing each other “casually” from attending the same mosque, said the bureau’s director, James B. Comey, on Monday. But in the wake of Sunday’s attack in Orlando, there is a new focus on this small working-class town in South Florida and the mosque atttended by two of the most infamous Muslim extremists with U.S. roots. – Washington Post
A question now is how, or whether, Islam’s posture toward homosexuality figured in Omar S. Mateen’s killing of at least 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando after claiming allegiance to Islamic State. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Still traumatized and broken by the fallout of another major terrorist attack on the United States 15 years ago, Afghans said Monday they weren’t about to get worked up about the latest one. They have enough to worry about, they said, even though Sunday’s deadly rampage at a Florida nightclub has once again pushed their country back into the global headlines, perhaps unfairly. – Washington Post
[J]udging from the initial reaction, the attack in Florida resonated globally on Monday not as an American anomaly, but because it felt so universal. Orlando now takes a place with Paris, Brussels, Beirut, Bamako, San Bernardino and other cities struck by different incarnations of terrorism in recent years. – New York Times
Calling Mateen a “lone wolf” risks obscuring more than it reveals, according to Michael Smith, a counterterrorism expert and consultant, because it fails to accurately describe the threat posed by the Islamic State, and masks the relationship the group is building with its sympathizers abroad. – Foreign Policy
The Florida terrorist attack last weekend revealed multiple failures of Obama administration counterterrorism policies that critics say are hamstrung by liberal “political correctness.” – Washington Free Beacon
A major U.S. security contractor is under scrutiny for its security screening process after it continued to employ Orlando shooter Omar Mateen despite two FBI inquiries into his ties to terrorism. – Washington Free Beacon
Orlando Reaction
Audio: FPI Board Member William Kristol discussed the fallout and implications of the Orlando attack – The Weekly Standard Blog
Audio: FPI Fellow James Kirchick also discussed the fallout and implications of the Orlando attack – Newstalk 580 CFRA
FPI Fellow James Kirchick writes: One suspected, long before he even approached the podium, that no matter how many calls Omar Mateen made to 911 pledging his allegiance to ISIS, the president would not be able to bring himself to utter any variation of the word “Islam,” and instead grasp toward the chimera of gun control, and in that regard he didn’t disappoint. In its destructive reluctance to stand up for core liberal beliefs, the regressive American left will elect Donald Trump. – Tablet
Bret Stephens writes: It would require more humility than Mr. Obama is capable of mustering to admit that what happened in Orlando is also a consequence of his decisions—of allowing Iraq and Syria to descend to chaos; of pretending that we could call off the war on terror because fighting it didn’t fit a political narrative; of failing to defeat ISIS swiftly and utterly; of refusing to recognize the religious roots of terror; of treating the massacre in San Bernardino as an opportunity to lecture Americans about Islamophobia, and Orlando as another argument for gun control. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes: This is not primarily about guns or immigration. It is about a deeply dangerous ideology that is infiltrating American society in the guise of religion. Homophobia comes in many forms. But none is more dangerous in our time than the Islamic version. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Eli Lake writes: there are good reasons why Obama -- and President George W. Bush before him -- did not describe jihadists in explicitly Islamic terms. It was not because they are cowed by political correctness. Rather it was because the wider war on radical Islamic terrorism requires the tacit and at times active support of many radical Muslims. – Bloomberg View
Danielle Pletka writes: Forty-nine Americans are dead at the hands of an ISIS-inspired terrorist. But for all that we know about the killer himself, there are some tough questions that remain unanswered, questions whose answers could help prevent another such attack. – AEI Ideas
Max Boot writes: This will be a long war, and it will be fought by a variety of means, some kinetic, many not. In many ways, this conflict resembles the Cold War, a multigenerational struggle waged with varied instruments. We can only hope that this conflict will end as satisfactorily from our vantage point as the Cold War did. - Commentary
Thomas Joscelyn writes: The jihadists' belief in "martyrdom," as twisted as it is, has only become more prevalent during the past decade and a half. Perhaps the U.S government should be seeking ways to discredit this idea, instead of pretending it is not what motivates men to commit heinous acts. – The Weekly Standard Blog
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross writes: Just as ISIS claiming an attack does not prove that its overall network played a strong role, lack of immediately obvious connections to the broader organization does not necessarily mean an attack is lone wolf in nature. – New York Daily News
David Gomez writes: It’s too late for the Orlando victims, but a future change in what allows for opening a full FBI investigation may assist in preventing future acts of terrorism. Perhaps it is time for a return to the pre-9/11 standard for investigating terrorists — particularly if the need for the prevention of terrorist acts in the homeland is how the FBI is going to be judged in the future. – Foreign Policy
President Barack Obama said the shooter who killed 49 people and injured 53 others at an Orlando gay nightclub apparently was self-radicalized and “an example of homegrown extremism.” – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
A day after the shooting, many details of the police response remained in question, and the police account continued to contain crucial gaps — perhaps most critically, what happened during the hours that Mr. Mateen was hiding in a nightclub bathroom as he spoke intermittently to the police by cellphone. – New York Times
The gunman who went on a shooting rampage in a popular gay nightclub here shot nearly all of his victims in the first stages of the assault, then was utterly “cool and calm” while he talked by phone to law enforcement officials about further carnage, claimed allegiance to the Islamic State and praised the Boston Marathon bombers, officials said on Monday. – New York Times
Investigators now face the question of how much the killings were the act of a deeply disturbed man, as his former wife and others described him, and how much he was driven by religious or political ideology. – New York Times
[T]he devastation in Orlando represents a danger that many U.S. counterterrorism officials warn will be harder to contain than the Islamic State’s aspirations for an extremist haven in the Middle East. – Washington Post
The FBI looked for a potential connection between Mateen and Abusalha in 2014 and did not find “ties of any consequence,” aside from the two men knowing each other “casually” from attending the same mosque, said the bureau’s director, James B. Comey, on Monday. But in the wake of Sunday’s attack in Orlando, there is a new focus on this small working-class town in South Florida and the mosque atttended by two of the most infamous Muslim extremists with U.S. roots. – Washington Post
A question now is how, or whether, Islam’s posture toward homosexuality figured in Omar S. Mateen’s killing of at least 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando after claiming allegiance to Islamic State. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Still traumatized and broken by the fallout of another major terrorist attack on the United States 15 years ago, Afghans said Monday they weren’t about to get worked up about the latest one. They have enough to worry about, they said, even though Sunday’s deadly rampage at a Florida nightclub has once again pushed their country back into the global headlines, perhaps unfairly. – Washington Post
[J]udging from the initial reaction, the attack in Florida resonated globally on Monday not as an American anomaly, but because it felt so universal. Orlando now takes a place with Paris, Brussels, Beirut, Bamako, San Bernardino and other cities struck by different incarnations of terrorism in recent years. – New York Times
Calling Mateen a “lone wolf” risks obscuring more than it reveals, according to Michael Smith, a counterterrorism expert and consultant, because it fails to accurately describe the threat posed by the Islamic State, and masks the relationship the group is building with its sympathizers abroad. – Foreign Policy
The Florida terrorist attack last weekend revealed multiple failures of Obama administration counterterrorism policies that critics say are hamstrung by liberal “political correctness.” – Washington Free Beacon
A major U.S. security contractor is under scrutiny for its security screening process after it continued to employ Orlando shooter Omar Mateen despite two FBI inquiries into his ties to terrorism. – Washington Free Beacon
Orlando Reaction
Audio: FPI Board Member William Kristol discussed the fallout and implications of the Orlando attack – The Weekly Standard Blog
Audio: FPI Fellow James Kirchick also discussed the fallout and implications of the Orlando attack – Newstalk 580 CFRA
FPI Fellow James Kirchick writes: One suspected, long before he even approached the podium, that no matter how many calls Omar Mateen made to 911 pledging his allegiance to ISIS, the president would not be able to bring himself to utter any variation of the word “Islam,” and instead grasp toward the chimera of gun control, and in that regard he didn’t disappoint. In its destructive reluctance to stand up for core liberal beliefs, the regressive American left will elect Donald Trump. – Tablet
Bret Stephens writes: It would require more humility than Mr. Obama is capable of mustering to admit that what happened in Orlando is also a consequence of his decisions—of allowing Iraq and Syria to descend to chaos; of pretending that we could call off the war on terror because fighting it didn’t fit a political narrative; of failing to defeat ISIS swiftly and utterly; of refusing to recognize the religious roots of terror; of treating the massacre in San Bernardino as an opportunity to lecture Americans about Islamophobia, and Orlando as another argument for gun control. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes: This is not primarily about guns or immigration. It is about a deeply dangerous ideology that is infiltrating American society in the guise of religion. Homophobia comes in many forms. But none is more dangerous in our time than the Islamic version. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Eli Lake writes: there are good reasons why Obama -- and President George W. Bush before him -- did not describe jihadists in explicitly Islamic terms. It was not because they are cowed by political correctness. Rather it was because the wider war on radical Islamic terrorism requires the tacit and at times active support of many radical Muslims. – Bloomberg View
Danielle Pletka writes: Forty-nine Americans are dead at the hands of an ISIS-inspired terrorist. But for all that we know about the killer himself, there are some tough questions that remain unanswered, questions whose answers could help prevent another such attack. – AEI Ideas
Max Boot writes: This will be a long war, and it will be fought by a variety of means, some kinetic, many not. In many ways, this conflict resembles the Cold War, a multigenerational struggle waged with varied instruments. We can only hope that this conflict will end as satisfactorily from our vantage point as the Cold War did. - Commentary
Thomas Joscelyn writes: The jihadists' belief in "martyrdom," as twisted as it is, has only become more prevalent during the past decade and a half. Perhaps the U.S government should be seeking ways to discredit this idea, instead of pretending it is not what motivates men to commit heinous acts. – The Weekly Standard Blog
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross writes: Just as ISIS claiming an attack does not prove that its overall network played a strong role, lack of immediately obvious connections to the broader organization does not necessarily mean an attack is lone wolf in nature. – New York Daily News
David Gomez writes: It’s too late for the Orlando victims, but a future change in what allows for opening a full FBI investigation may assist in preventing future acts of terrorism. Perhaps it is time for a return to the pre-9/11 standard for investigating terrorists — particularly if the need for the prevention of terrorist acts in the homeland is how the FBI is going to be judged in the future. – Foreign Policy
Zalmay Khalilzad writes: The challenge of Islamic terrorism defies any quick, short-term solutions. A comprehensive strategy is needed to address the root causes of the threat, which ultimately emanate abroad. But the Orlando attacks underscore that our domestic defenses are just as vital to preserve our freedoms. – The National Interest
The ex-wife of the 29-year-old man suspected of killing 50 people in a Orlando nightclub early Sunday said that he was violent and mentally unstable and beat her repeatedly while they were married. – Washington Post
FBI special-agent-in-charge Ron Hopper told reporters that Mateen had been interviewed twice in 2013 after he made comments to co-workers about potential ties to terror groups, and another time in 2014. - Politico
FBI special-agent-in-charge Ron Hopper told reporters that Mateen had been interviewed twice in 2013 after he made comments to co-workers about potential ties to terror groups, and another time in 2014. - Politico
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