Almost As Bad As Parkland

Here we go again.  We learned today that Seddique Mateen, the father of the Pulse Nightclub terrorist Omar Mateen (who killed 49) was a confidential FBI informant for over a decade.  We also learned that the father was under FBI investigation for money transfers to suspicious recipients in Turkey and Afghanistan and that those transfers were discovered in the consensual search of the father's residence that took place right after the Pulse shootings.  That's the minor stuff.  The major item is that the FBI investigated the shooter Omar Mateen about two years prior to the attack and found that he had no ties to terrorism.  The FBI was considering adding Omar as a confidential informant at the time.  All this came out because the government attorney in the ongoing trial of Omar's wife had to disclose these facts to the defense.

There are issues whether or not the disclosure came too late and that therefore the wife's case has to be dismissed, but that's minor stuff.  What's important is that the FBI had done a detailed investigation of the shooter and missed all the signs that he was a terrorist, and that the shooter's father was an informant who never bothered to tell the FBI what his son was doing (if he knew).

Maybe I'm naïve, but I do believe that a review of Omar Mateen's life by the FBI not all that long before the attack ought to have at least raised a suspicion of his intentions.  This was not a casual conversation; it was an FBI background check.  It should have turned up the truth.

We do know that in the Parkland Florida school shooting the FBI was expressly warned twice and still failed to do anything.  The Mateen story is not that bad, but it comes close.  What the hell was the FBI doing in these cases?  It certainly doesn't add to a feeling of security.