Foreigners’ tweets, posts get closer look

Customs, Border Patrol agents might inquire about online activity

The government’s next plan to curb terrorism involves snooping around the Facebook profiles of foreign travelers.

Non- citizens traveling to the U. S. on a visa waiver could be asked about their online presence and social media profiles — but not their account passwords — by U. S. Customs and Border Patrol.

Though CBP already screens foreign travelers with in- person interviews and database checks, collecting social media accounts is specifically meant to track activity that could pose threats to “national security,” according to a proposal submitted by CBP and published in the Federal Register late last week.

“Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity,” the proposal said.

The proposal indicates CBP recognizes the way individual attackers and extremist groups are using social media to spread terror.

Two recent mass shootings with connections to established terrorist groups — in San Bernardino, Calif., and in Orlando — were at the hands of killers adept at using social media.

The California attackers whose shooting rampage killed 14 posted messages of support to Islamic State on their social media profiles. Omar Mateen, whose massacre at a Orlando night club killed 49, pledged support to ISIS on Facebook.

The new CBP proposal, which has a 60- day comment period, may not have flagged the Orlando or San Bernardino shootings because the attackers were either citizens or permanent residents of the United States.

Collecting social media accounts is meant to track activity that could pose a threat to national security.