US officials target social media, encryption after Chattanooga shooting

Was the Chattanooga shooter inspired by IS propaganda? There's no evidence to back the claim, but some officials are already calling for access to encrypted messages and social media monitoring. Spencer Kimball reports.

It's not an unusual story in America: A man in his 20s with an unstable family life, mental health issues and access to firearms goes on a shooting spree, shattering the peace of middle class life.

This time, the shooter's name was Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, a Kuwaiti-born naturalized US citizen, the son of Jordanian parents of Palestinian descent. And he targeted the military.

Abdulazeez opened fire on a recruiting center and naval reserve facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee last Thursday. Four marines and a sailor, all unarmed, died in the attack.

But the picture that's emerged from Chattanooga over the past several days is complicated, raising questions about mental health, substance abuse, firearms, religion and modernity.

Yet elected officials have been quick to suggest that events in Chattanooga were directly inspired by "Islamic State" (also known as ISIL or ISIS) Internet propaganda, though there's still no concrete evidence to back up that claim.

"This is a classic lone wolf terrorist attack," Senator Dianne Feinstein told US broadcaster CBS. "Last year, 2014, ISIL put out a call for people to kill military people, police officers, government officials and do so on their own, not wait for direction."

And according to Feinstein, part of the solution is to provide the government with greater access to digital communications.

"It is now possible for people, if they're going to talk from Syria to the United States or anywhere else, to get on an encrypted app which cannot be decrypted by the government with a court order," Feinstein said................

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