A temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States won't work, GOP candidate Carly Fiorina said Thursday, but there was incompetence from the federal government when it came to dealing with Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the husband-and-wife terrorists in the San Bernardino massacre.
"They missed a fake address in the fiance's Visa [Tashfeen Malik]," Fiorina told
Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "They missed these two radicalized Islamic terrorists who apparently were radicalized years ago, but despite all the metadata collection, they missed it. This is government incompetence."
But still, she said, Trump's plan "would not help us figure out who's trying to harm us here at home, and it isn't a plan to destroy ISIS overseas, so it won't work."
Fiorina said she has a plan to help the United States identify potential terrorists, "which involved, among other things, making sure that we re-examine all these Visa programs, making sure that our investigators have access to every piece of data they need."
This would involve engaging the private sector and modernizing collection methods, because the Patriot Act was written in 2001, "generations [ago] in technology," the former Hewlett-Packard CEO said.
She also downplayed FBI Director James Comey's statements that there are several telecommunications companies that are not being transparent, making it difficult to get information about terror suspects.
"They're not being appropriately engaged," she said of the telecom industry. "I've been in the telecom industry. I've been in the technology industry. I know how long these companies hold onto records."
Fiorina said that after the 9/11 attacks, her company was asked for "very specific help" by the National Security Agency, and her company provided it.
"The technology sector is an innovative place," she said. "They have moved so far beyond the Patriot Act, and sadly the terrorists have moved with them. But our government — no. Our government is a vast inept bureaucracy right now. When our FBI head says, 'whoops, we missed it,' just like whoops, we missed the Boston bombers. We have to deal with government incompetence."
But "waving your arms and talking about banning Muslims temporarily does nothing to deny them territory abroad, which we must do, and it does nothing to protect us at home," Fiorina said of Trump's plan.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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