Pensacola Air Base Shooting; FBI: Act of Terrorism; Locked Phones a Hurdle for Investigators

Shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola Called ‘Act of Terrorism’

Deceased Assailant’s Locked Phones a Hurdle FB I

The Department of Justice and the FBI today provided new details about a shooting last month at Naval Air Station Pensacola that left three U.S. sailors dead and eight others wounded.

Attorney General William P. Barr said the December 6 attack by a member of the Royal Saudi Air Force who was studying at the Florida military base was “an act of terrorism” motivated by “jihadist ideology.” Barr said Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani visited the 9/11 Memorial in New York City last year and posted a message on social media last September 11 stating that “the countdown has started.”

In addition to releasing new information about the shooter’s actions leading up to the attack, the attorney general and FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich drew special attention to the selfless acts of first responders, who they credited with saving lives.

Barr and Bowdich also highlighted a significant hurdle in the ongoing counterterrorism investigation—the inability to extract information from the deceased shooter’s encrypted Apple iPhones despite court authorization and probable cause.

“It’s very important for us to know with whom and about what the shooter was communicating before he died,” Barr said during the press conference at Department of Justice Headquarters in Washington, D.C. “This situation perfectly illustrates why it is critical that investigators be able to get access to digital evidence once they have obtained a court order based on probable cause.”

Bowdich called the investigation “incredibly complex,” involving hundreds of FBI personnel, including the Jacksonville Field Office, and dozens of partner agencies and entities. The FBI has conducted more than 500 interviews and collected more than 42 terabytes of digital media in an effort to determine if Alshamrani was acting alone.

“So far, we have not identified any solid evidence that the shooter acted with any co-conspirators or that he was inspired by a specific group,” Bowdich said. The shooter’s social media posts suggested he harbored anti-U.S. military and anti-Israel sentiments.

The shooting lasted about 15 minutes, and Naval Security Forces intervened about eight minutes after the first shots. Alshamrani was killed by law enforcement officers who responded to the scene, where the FBI found a lawfully purchased semi-automatic handgun, several ammunition magazines, and about 180 rounds of ammunition.

“We want to work together with private sector companies so that we can lawfully access the evidence and information we need to keep our country and its citizens safe.”

FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich

Attorney General Barr singled out several individuals for their heroism during the attack, including two unarmed U.S. Marines who confronted the shooter and later provided medical treatment to shooting victims, as well as a Navy airman who was shot five times yet still shielded a fellow sailor from being shot.

“We are grateful as well for the bravery of the base personnel and local law enforcement responders who initially arrived at the scene and engaged the shooter,” Barr said.

Barr also acknowledged the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for supporting the investigation, which has not found any evidence of pre-knowledge of the attack by other Saudi Royal Air Force and Royal Navy trainees. But investigators did find that 17 of the Saudi trainees in Florida had social media containing jihadi or anti-American content, and 15 (including some of the 17) had contact with child pornography. These findings led Saudi Arabia to withdraw 21 students from the training curriculum in the U.S.

Barr said federal prosecutors evaluated the individual cases. “The relevant U.S. Attorneys Offices independently reviewed each of the 21 cases involving derogatory information and determined that none of them would, in the normal course, result in federal prosecution,” Barr explained. 

Barr and Bowdich both closed their remarks with pleas to the California-based tech company Apple to work with the FBI and DOJ to collectively find a solution to the issue of mobile devices that are, by default, encrypted. The inability to lawfully access user data on mobile devices is leading promising cases to dead-ends, giving an edge to criminals and terrorists.

Alshamrani left two iPhones at the crime scene—one he shot through with a bullet before being killed. The FBI Laboratory was able to restore both phones to working order but is unable to unlock either of them.

“Even with a court order, to date we cannot access the contents of the two phones that the attorney general referred to in this investigation—and countless other investigations,” Bowdich said. “We want to work together with private sector companies so that we can lawfully access the evidence and information we need to keep our country and its citizens safe.”

“We’re not trying to weaken encryption,” he added. “After all, data security is a central part of our mission.

13 DECEMBER 2019

Mohammed Alshamrani, a 21-year-old lieutenant in the Saudi Royal Air Force opened fire in a classroom at the naval base Friday, killing three U.S. sailors and wounding eight others before he was killed by police.had legally purchased the Glock 9mm handgun after obtaining a state hunting license, VOA news reported.

A valid hunting license is one of the exceptions to the federal law that bars anyone traveling to the United States on a nonimmigrant visa to own weapons or ammunition.

The FBI is investigating the fatal shooting at a Naval base in Florida as an act of terrorism. Rachel Rojas, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Jacksonville office, Said that the investigation was taking place under the “presumption” it was an act of terrorism, but that the gunman had likely acted alone, according to the VOA report.

“We currently assess there was one gunman who perpetrated this attack and no arrests have been made in this case,” she said.

The shooter, who was also killed in the incident, is reported to have hosted a dinner party earlier in the week where he showed videos of mass U.S. shootings to his guests, according to media reports. At least one of his guests is reported to have videotaped Friday’s massacre.  Several Saudi students are being held for questioning.

Before the pilot opened fire at the base, he tweeted a will and quoted Osama bin Laden in justifying his actions, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which translates jihadist threats and communications.

In the Twitter post, he said America “has turned into a nation of evil.”  He condemned the U.S. for its support of Israel and its invasion of Muslim countries and many other countries.  Using a bin Laden quote, he also said that the security of the U.S. and Muslims is a “shared destiny.”  He added, “You will not be safe until we live it as reality in pleastain [sic], and American troops get out of our lands.”

Guns are not permitted at the Pensacola Naval Air Station, but Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said the shooter managed to get a handgun onto the base before targeting individuals at one of the buildings. Officials said the rampage ended when a sheriff’s deputy cornered and shot the suspect in a classroom, According to one VOA report
 
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that he had been in contact with Saudi King Salman, who offered condolences.
 
“The King said that the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter,” Trump said.
 
In a statement, Salman called the shooting a “heinous crime” and said he expressed his sorrow over the attack in his phone call with Trump. The king said he has directed Saudi security services to cooperate with American agencies to uncover information that will help determine the cause of the “horrific attack,” VOA reported.

Pensacola Shooting | BY CLAUDETTE ROULO , DOD NEWS

Hoffman said the hold on operational training that was implemented following the shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida last week is restricted to Saudi students in the United States. Those students are still conducting training, but it is limited to classroom instruction, he said.

There is no prohibition on new foreign students coming to the United States, Hoffman noted, but they will go through additional vetting procedures that will be implemented in the coming days. “Until that process is complete, we will not see any new students come into the program,” he said.

The suspect’s Saudi acquaintances in the program are restricted to quarters, he said, a move that was taken in coordination with the Saudi government so that they are available to law enforcement.

In a statement, Pentagon officials said the Saudi Arabian students are restricted to base by their commanding officer. The students are under direction by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to cooperate with the investigation, which they are doing, the statement noted. The students have access to classroom instruction, food, medical staff, a U.S. military imam, and their commanding officer, officials said.

Hoffman said the restriction “seemed prudent” and in line with the defense secretary’s guidance that DOD needs to look after its people and their families.

“If something else were to happen and we had not taken steps to address and enhance our vetting and screening, that would be unacceptable,” he said.

Since 2000, more than a million foreign students have taken part in training programs conducted in the United States and overseas, Hoffman said. This type of training is considered a vital tool to help partners increase their capabilities and interoperability and build cultural understanding, he said.

The No. 1 concern in the new vetting system being developed is the safety of U.S. personnel and their families, Hoffman said.. Once the process is developed, he added, the new standards will be expanded to all foreign students.