San Bernardino CA, host of the most recent atrocity in the “war on terror” (specifically domestic terrorism), was the site of yet another mass- religiously exuberant- shooting. The massacre took place at the Inland Regional Center. Yes; not only did the attack occur at a hospital, but a non-profit hospital specifically dedicated to those with developmental disabilities. Fourteen people were killed 21 were wounded. The shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 29, had much bigger aspirations than just the Inland Health Center, the Los Angeles Times reports. They reported that Farook’s phone had pictures of nearby high schools and colleges. In Farook’s residence, an Explosive Ordinance Disposal bot scoured the house finding ten pipe bombs, dozens of weapons and duffle bags full of ammunition.

Farook’s neighbor, and longtime friend, Enrique Marquez is under investigation for the purchasing of two weapons used in the shooting, but it is unclear if he had any knowledge of the event though he is currently in custody.

It is important to note, however, that Farook and Malik’s guns and ammunition had been legally acquired (through Marquez who illegally gifted two of the guns to Farook), and the couple both had legally entered the country. Farook came to America from Pakistan, and eventually became a legal US resident, even attending college.

What could’ve prevented this? Sadly, there is not much that could have been done to stop the atrocity. Though, the FBI did admit after investigation that Farook was in contact with ISIS recruitment officers and other individual “threats” to national security before 2012. So, what happened? Farook was in the FBI’s radar, and associated himself with ISIS and the individuals foiled in the attempted attacks on Chino in 2012.

There are many consequences of this attack that anger people, most importantly that eastern religious extremism has had countless permutations into the weakest parts of America and the fact that, well, the NSA with the Patriot Act, a bill which allows them to investigate an individual’s communication history (ended in 2015), did not stop this attack or investigate Farook or Malik, known associates of domestic terrorists, though he had been in contact with extremists since before 2008. With a budget of 52.6 billion dollars, the NSA has failed in its core principle, national security, even with limitless technological power.