The FBI does not have all the tools it needs to keep tabs on people who may commit acts of terrorism, and more needs to be done to make sure that happens, New Hampshire GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte said Tuesday.
"Right now they can't get the electronic records that you can get for bank records, you can get for phone records," Ayotte said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program.
"We should allow them to do that. I could do that in a criminal prosecution case."
For example, in the case of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, "There should have been a pursuit of presence of that individual online, that terrorist," she said. "We have to give them tools they need. I think it is really important in these circumstances."
Accused New York City bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami has not yet been given his Miranda rights, said Ayotte, as "we need to know what he knows. We're hoping he is not saying he has the right to remain silent. Who did he have contact with in Afghanistan and Pakistan? Is there anyone helping him in the United States and is there any other plots we need to know about?"
He has not been read his rights, said Ayotte, as there is an "intelligence responsibility here separate from prosecuting him. We learned we may have his DNA evidence on some of the bomb materials. You can prove a case against him like that. What we need is separate intelligence interview to know are there any other plots?"
Rahami traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and his father reported to the FBI two years ago that he feared his son had become radicalized. Ayotte said she wants to know why his trips weren't more fully investigated.
"There are a number of terrorist groups in those countries," she said. "Did anyone there help give him the leeway in terms of helping him learn how to make explosives? Why wasn't there more thorough questioning at the time, with his trips. Obviously the situation with his wife has to be fully pursued to understand what she knows and suddenly left the country, which leads me to believe that she did know he was going to undertake the attacks."
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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