U.S. immigration officials were reportedly barred from vetting visa applicants' social media posts

Since investigators linked a pro-Islamic State Facebook account to one of the San Bernardino shooters, there's been increased scrutiny over how the Department of Homeland Security incorporates social media into its vetting process of visa applicants like Tashfeen Malik. Apparently, until recently, they didn't factor it into decisions about who they accept at all, ABC News reports.

That's according to ABC national security consultant John Cohen, who previously served as an acting DHS undersecretary for intelligence and analysis. In early 2014, Cohen said, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson declined to end a secret U.S. policy that barred immigration officials from reviewing the social media posts of foreign citizens seeking U.S. visas.

"It was primarily a question of optics," Cohen told ABC News. "There were concerns from a privacy and civil liberties perspective that while this was not illegal, that it would be viewed negatively if it was disclosed publicly."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The DHS, which is reviewing its policy on social media posts, said it implemented three pilot programs in fall 2014 to factor some social media posts into the vetting process, a practice that is not yet widespread. An anonymous source told The Wall Street Journal on Monday that the department is planning to expand the role social media plays in the review process.