Attorney General William Barr has provided new developments regarding the military trainee that killed three U.S. sailors and wounded others at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola at the end of last year. With this, new legislation called the Secure United States Bases Act, sponsored by Florida Rep. Michael Waltz (R), would combat an act like this ever happening again.
The Attorney General informed that the trainee was working with al-Qaeda operatives.
The trainee in question, Mohammed Alshamrani was a member of the Royal Saudi Air Force, and the developments come after the FBI was able to break the encryption on Alshamrani’s iPhones.
FBI Director Christopher Way informed reporters over the weekend that evidence found “shows that the Pensacola attack was actually the brutal culmination of years of planning and preparation by a longtime AQAP associate.”
The AQAP is the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
In response to the information that’s been uncovered, Florida rep. Waltz has released a statement, saying that the “announcement is an unfortunate reminder that terror still threatens America – and that it was on Florida’s own soil that a terrorist attack occurred in December.” Moreover, “though training foreign nationals to work with us is key to the success of our missions overseas, the United States must vet these foreign nationals thoroughly and properly, so we can ensure this tragedy never happens again.”
The Florida lawmaker also called for a full investigation of the shooting, voicing his sponsorship for the Secure United States Bases Act, which would require thorough vetting of foreign military students before they enter the country.
Furthermore, the legislation would also establish a review process to ensure that the Department of Defense does not operate programs domestically if they are better operated abroad.
In the Senate, Senator Rick Scott (R) is sponsoring the companion legislation.
