The State Department insisted Wednesday that it’s too soon to tell if the government missed any warning signs when it approved a visa for Tashfeen Malik, who attacked an office building with her husband last week, killing 14.
The FBI announced Wednesday morning that Malik and her husband, Syed Farook, were both radicalized at least two years earlier, before Malik was allowed to enter the United States. But when asked if the State Department might have missed “warning signs” in Malik’s application, a spokesman said that isn’t known yet.
“I think it’s too soon to answer that question right now,” said spokesman John Kirby. “We’ve seen those reports there about how long they may have been radicalized. This is an ongoing investigation, and we want to respect the investigative process.”
“I don’t want to say anything, or get ahead of the work investigators have to do here,” Kirby added. “So it’s too soon to know what, if anything, might have been missed in the screening process.”
Kirby reiterated the department’s commitment to reforming the visa process, and said the reform process is always happening.
“As I said yesterday, even absent this investigation, we’re always looking to improve. And to make things better,” Kirby stated. “The Secretary [John Kerry] is committed to the review that the president has ordered of this program.”
“We’re going to participate in that review as robustly as we can,” Kirby said.
At the same time, however, Kirby said that as of this week, there have been “no administrative changes” to the process so far.
Kirby also said the fiancee visa application process entails a review that is conducted by both the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
