itle: The Killing Floor - Mass Murder in San Bernardino

Step into the heart of December 2, 2015, a day marked by unspeakable violence that shook the San Bernardino community to its core. Embark on a journey through the personal stories of loss, bravery, and the unending human spirit. Delve into the complex web of radicalization that led Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik to carry out an act of terror, transforming a festive gathering into a scene of horror. Through the interviews with survivors, paint a vivid picture of courage amidst chaos. Explore the societal impacts of such tragedies, including the psychological toll on witnesses and the broader questions of security and community resilience. 

Don’t miss this poignant and thought provoking episode that seeks to find light in the darkest of times.

Key Talking Points:

• The personal stories of survivors to illustrate the human aspect of the tragedy.

• The societal repercussions of the shooting, including how the event has affected community cohesion and the need for increased security and understanding in society.

• The contrast between the life choices of the Farook brothers, with one becoming a radicalized terrorist and the other a decorated Navy serviceman, understanding the complex factors that shape individual destinies.

• Various explanations for why individuals commit acts of extreme violence, including foreign policy retaliation, workplace harassment, misinterpretations of religious teachings, mental illness, inherent evil or psychopathy and the influence of gun culture.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00 Mark Silinsky: Hello and welcome to Intelligence and Society. This is a series of lessons that focus on how cases of espionage and subversion are reflected in American popular culture. Your host is Dr. Mark Silinsky, author and 40-year veteran of the United States Intelligence Community. Intelligence and Society is a product of Kensington Security Consulting, a firm that brings education to national security. The material in these lessons does not express the official position of any agency in the United States government. And now, today's lesson.

00:00:51 Mark Silinsky: The Killing Floor - Mass Murder in San Bernardino, the location in the slaughterhouse where the stock is killed and then butchered. The definition of this killing floor. Out of the Blue - It was the annual working party and nobody thought anybody would get hurt. As in previous years, San Bernardino's health inspectors would discuss plans for the upcoming year, hand out awards to high achievers and enjoy a buffet and potluck luncheon. Some inspectors wanted to avoid attending. Bored, one attendee chuckled to a coworker that the large clock on the wall must be broken because time was moving so slowly. However, the more ambitious and new hires saw the party as an opportunity to shine before colleagues and supervisors. Less visible was a pocket of simmering tension in the venue. One inspector later commented that twenty-eight-year-old Syed Rizwan Farook, an environmental health specialist, seemed fidgety and snarled at a perceived slight by a coworker. Then, according to one partygoer, Farook bolted the building out of the blue. 

00:02:19 Mark Silinsky: He returned with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, before lunch, and both were dressed in black and were carrying weapons. The pair entered the party hall and began shooting Farook’s coworkers. Before the two exited the building, they shot 36 attendees, killing 14. First responders arrived in less than four minutes, and the San Bernardino Police Department’s special weapons and tactics (SWAT). came six minutes later. Police chased, cornered the assailants, and then, after taking fire, riddled them with bullets. References to the Bonnie and Clyde shooting sprang up on the social media immediately. This is the story of what happened - “You can see just how badly it was damaged during the shootout. So authorities want to learn everything they can about these shooters. Soon after the massacre, police raided a home in nearby Redlands that is connected to the married couple. And David Begnaud is near that house with reaction from the suspect's family. David, good morning.”  

00:03:30 Mark Silinsky: Its Place in the World - The story of San Bernardino is tied to the history of the American West. California became part of Mexico and pioneer trailblazers such as Kit Carson and Jedidiah Strong often guided settlers to their new homes. It was incorporated as a city in 1854 with a population of 1200. At the time, San Bernardino was strictly a temperance town that forbade drinking and gambling holding fast to Mormon values. 

00:04:04 Mark Silinsky: As the town grew in the late 19th century, so did its need for hard-bitten men. This brought the Earp Brothers of Tombstone fame to the town. The town began to prosper. With mission-style architecture, towers, domes, and a tile roof, the new train station became the architectural pride of the city. Lake Arrowhead, an easy drive from Los Angeles, attracted the Southern California smart set in the 1930s. The film industry used San Bernardino to test movies. After World War II, band leader Bobby Troup acclaimed the city in his hit song Route 66. Troup remembered, “I came down through the Cajon Pass and saw San Bernardino, this beautiful city with green hills and orange groves, and I thought, ‘Wow, I'm in California now.’” 

00:05:03 Mark Silinsky: In the post-war period, Americans flocked to California and many built new lives in San Bernardino. Richard and Maurice or Mac, McDonald, opened a hamburger stand in 1940 on the Southwest corner of 14th and E streets near San Bernardino High School. It did brisk business and became the world's largest restaurant chain. 

00:05:31 Mark Silinsky: Never prosperous, life in San Bernardino deteriorated in the late 20th century to become California's starkest example of urban blight. High-brow journalist Joan Didion described the county as “a harsher California,” without a bohemian and avant-garde class. By 2013, it ranked as the second poorest city in the nation behind Detroit. And like Detroit, San Bernardino went bust. The city continues to rest near the bottom of the quality of life indexes. Where's the worst place to raise a family or find a high paying job? In California, San Bernardino is often high on the list. According to one poll, the city was the worst city in America for food lovers. 

00:06:23 Mark Silinsky: Health inspectors in San Bernardino - All but one of those who died on 2 December 2015 belong to San Bernardino's small circle of county health inspectors. County residents enjoy safe water, uncontaminated food, safely prepared food, and dining facilities free of vermin and cockroaches, partially because public inspectors are doing their job. 

00:06:50 Mark Silinsky: San Bernardino's health inspectors are drawn from all over America and the world. When health department supervisors sometimes refer to her band of inspectors as a Little United Nations. They come from Colombia, Eritrea, Iran, Mexico, India, and other distant reaches of the globe. The potpourri of ethnicities, religions and political opinions can bring disputes. “No talking politics. No interoffice drama,” were the implicit office rules. Many of these health inspectors worked with Syed Farook, and it is likely that none guessed that he would shoot and kill them. His coworkers valued Farook's soft-spoken, cooperative style. Some in the office kidded him about his beard, but he usually shrugged off any jokes that were made about his facial hair. 

00:07:49 Mark Silinsky: Farook began to search for a wife and turned to a Muslim lonely hearts dating service that reached for singles around the world. He described himself as coming from a “religious but modern family” whose values were Eastern and Western. Six feet tall, he enjoyed, in his words, working on vintage and modern cars and reading about religion. And he liked to just hang out in the backyard doing target practice with his younger sister and friends. 

00:08:24 Mark Silinsky: His biography caught the eye of a Pakistan born and Saudi raised young woman who would become his wife. The mutual attraction was immediate. A smitten Tashfeen Malik replied, and they began an electronic courtship with flurries of emails. They shared a common faith and a set of values that were anchored on the core values of Islam. But few understood the depth of their radicalism and their support for Islamic militancy. In retrospect, the FBI concluded that Farook and Malik separately radicalized on the internet as early as 2011. They were independently drawn to the sermons and other material posted online by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Early in their online liaison, they discussed martyrdom operations, and they shared contempt for the United States of America. 

00:09:27 Mark Silinsky: Malik was born in the small southern Pakistan town, some 275 miles from Islamabad. Malik moved to Saudi Arabia as a child after her father found work as an engineer there. She excelled in school. Her brother recalled, “She was always at the top of her class.” At university in Pakistan, she started dressing more conservatively, wearing a scarf that covered nearly all of her face, and she became more fervent in her Muslim faith, according to those who knew her in Pakistan. Malik was not identified as a threat, despite being interviewed at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan and vetted by different government agencies. They checked her name, her picture, against a terror watch list and ran her fingerprints against two databases. 

00:10:22 Mark Silinsky: After they were married, they moved into the middle class area of Redlands, which is a cozy, affordable bedroom community in the Inland Empire. The newlyweds lived with Farook's mother. At home, Malik tended to their new baby. When Farook was in the garage, he was tinkering with his car. But at some point, husband and wife began making plans beyond running the household. Relatives knew they kept firearms locked up in the house, but nothing in the newlywed's lifestyle portended the crime that they would commit in December 2015. 

00:11:05 Mark Silinsky: Best Friends - “Jihad is becoming as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea." Anwar Al Awlaki. Though Farook was solitary, he had a best friend whom he converted to Islam. Farook and Enrique Marquez shared many interests common to American teenage boys, such as cars, sports, girls. But they also confided in each other the desire to strike out in America, the America they grew to loathe. The lanky and shy Marquez felt emotionally empty and turned to Islam to fear a spiritual void. At 16, he became a Muslim, and he was soon radicalized. He channeled his anger towards the enemies of his newly embraced religion, Islam. With Farook, he watched morbid footage of al Qaeda killings. Both drew inspiration from the sermons of fire-brand Anwar al-Awlaki and the Al Qaeda magazine Inspire.

00:12:12 Mark Silinsky: Marquez checked identification at a local bar and he cleaned up after clothing. He occasionally drank with the patrons. After a few drinks, he slipped into self-pity, lamenting his obesity, lack of career direction, and inability to make friends. Young women showed no interest in him, and the bar's owner described him as goofy. When inebriated, he confided to regulars that he knew Muslim sleeper cells were in town ready to burst out in slaughter sprees. He hinted at an upcoming grandiose attack, but patrons sniffed away his taunts as bravado. One patron said, “We took it as a joke. When you look at this kid and talk to him, nobody would take him seriously about that.” That patron would be proven wrong.

00:13:08 Mark Silinsky: In August 2011, Farook divulged to Marquez his intent to join al Qaeda in Yemen. Sometimes after that, they scouted local places to attack, such as the Riverside City College and the 91 Freeway, using guns and explosives. Marquez purchased two of the assault weapons that were used in the San Bernardino Massacre. They mulled over attacking Riverside Community College main library or cafeteria. They did this because both knew the campus layout. They had taken courses there. They would lob pipe bombs into rooms and randomly spray fire. Alternatively, they would toss explosives from an overpass onto cars traveling on Route 91. After disabling several of the cars, the two would spring from their overpass and point blank blast rounds at stunned motorists. They would then shoot the first responders. Police were priority targets. 

00:14:14 Mark Silinsky: Well, nothing came of these plots, and neighbors were unaware of any of their plans to harm people. Nonetheless, the basic scheme of corralling and slaughtering a large crowd of San Bernardino residents framed the December 2015 attack. This spasm of murder would be a husband and wife operation, and it would happen at the annual Christmas party amid candy canes, eggnog, pictures with Santa Claus, and warm holiday fun. 

00:14:50 Mark Silinsky: Planning – Varmint Rifles and Pipe Bombs. “A small-caliber rifle, usually 5.56mm caliber, used to hunt small game." The definition of a Varmint rifle. Husband and wife prepared their attack well in advance. There is no known record of the precise moment the pair determined to commit mass murder. While Farook was distantly courting Malik, they exchanged texts about martyrdom operations. But as the annual office party approached, husband and wife prepared a detailed scheme that included assault weapons, sidearms, explosives.

00:15:35 Mark Silinsky: They selected a gathering of his coworkers at the Christmas party. Farook knew the layout of the facility. He had trained there before, and he may have undergone active shooter training there the year before. Many of his colleagues did. He knew the agenda for the day's activities and when and where people would be giving presentations. He sketched out the layout ahead of time. Marquez bought them the weapons they needed. The purchase was illegal because he bought them for a third party, which made it a straw purchase. Farook selected rifles that would use the .223 round. Through Marquez, he obtained one for himself and one for his wife. The .223 round can pierce through standard protective vest worn by police officers. He chose variants of the AR-15, a very controversial weapon. Gun control activists refer to these weapons as assault rifles, while others dispute the terms. Whatever they are called, few would question the devastating effects that the .223 or 5.56 millimeter round has on the human body. 

00:16:52 Mark Silinsky: As the holiday party approached, the couple began practicing at local ranges. They also started mapping out the planned route of attack. Farook sketched out the venue's conference room, tables, chairs, and podiums, as well as the entrances and exits. His marginalia included terms like cover fire and suppressor fire. Finally, they dropped off their daughter with Farook's mother. Now they were ready to go to the party and kill.

00:17:27 Mark Silinsky: Where is Syed? - Perched near a sizzler at an IHOP restaurant, the party venue was the Inland Regional Center. It is a large compound of three buildings on Waterman Avenue in an area with some industrial gentrification. On Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015, the county's Division of Environmental Health Services held a training session followed by a holiday party. Attendees placed their potluck offerings on a red tablecloth, a large Christmas tree adorned with decorations, stood in a corner, and holiday ornaments hung from the walls and the ceiling. 

00:18:12 Mark Silinsky: But not all the inspectors wanted to attend the party. Some assumed that it would be a repeat of the often tedious training sessions, forced conversations, and tiresome luncheons. Others were skeptical of a working party period and did not want to listen to lectures. Inspector Michelle Saltis considered calling in sick that day. Middle-aged Shannon Johnson confided to Denise Peraza that the large clock on the wall might be broken because time was moving so slowly. 

00:18:47 Mark Silinsky: At about 8.48, Farook arrived and sat near Saltis who recalled, “The whole time, he was kinda quiet . . . he was looking at his cell phone. . . And then the next thing I knew, I saw him standing up and walked away.” Patrick Baccari approached Farook, whom he considered to be a friend, and snickered, “Ready to be bored?” This was a standing joke about the training part of the annual working party. “I’m ready,” Farook responded. Farook was particularly taciturn that day, speaking only when colleagues greeted him. Colleagues noticed Farook glancing at his phone before he departed, but nobody was concerned. He placed a bag on a chair and left abruptly at 10.37. Later in the afternoon, police would find a bomb in the bag. 

00:19:42 Mark Silinsky: Farook returned to the training center, driving a rental black, Ford Expedition with Utah plates. He was accompanied by his wife, both of whom were carrying weapons. They stopped and approached the 60-year-old and father of three, Issac Amanios, who was sitting and enjoying the break. One or both fired, hitting him in the chest and in the shoulder. The chest bullet tumbled through his muscles and a lung, killing him. He had no idea what happened. Amanios was the first to die that day. His corpse lay slumped over as though he were sleeping, taking a nap. 

00:20:24 Mark Silinsky: Inside the center, several people noticed soft staccato-popping sounds outside. Fireworks? A car backfire? One person thought somebody had fallen from the roof, but a few recognized the distinct crackly sound as gunfire. Suddenly, a door swung open and a masked figure wielding an automatic rifle and clad in all black entered. It was Farook who turned to face coworkers who were standing next to a buffet table, filling...