The U.S. Is Failing In Its Efforts To Stop Lone Terrorists

Police forensic investigators work at the crime scene of a mass shooting at the Pulse gay night club in Orlando, Florida, U.S. June 12, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young

Chris Strohm & Mike Dorning, Bloomberg: Orlando Massacre Shows Cracks in U.S. Bid to Stop Terrorism

* FBI had twice interviewed alleged killer for terror links
* Agency’s chief has warned often about ‘lone-wolf’ terrorists

The FBI let the Orlando mass-shooting suspect slip through its grasp despite interviewing him twice since 2013 due to a lack of evidence to hold him, a troubling fact that will pressure officials struggling to detect lone terrorists without eroding basic civil liberties.

The FBI is investigating Sunday’s killing spree at a gay dance club in Orlando, Florida, as an act of terrorism after 29-year-old shooting suspect Omar Mateen killed 49 people using an assault weapon and a handgun. Mateen, who called 9-1-1 as he began the assault to claim allegiance to Islamic State, was killed in a shootout with police.

While the U.S. has made progress in countering groups like Islamic State on the ground overseas, technology allows their radical ideology to reach across borders and lure true believers, the socially disaffected or the mentally unstable. Even when a potential terrorism suspect comes to the attention of U.S. law enforcement -- as Mateen did -- there may not be enough evidence, resources or coordination to continue an investigation.

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WNU Editor: If these commentators are to be believed, the difficulties in stopping terror attacks are about to get worse .... Success Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq to Blame for Terror Attacks in U.S.? (FOX News).

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