phones that they tried to destroy? >> i was told they were in a nearby trash can that was found by our investigators. >> reporter: do you believe that they have [ inaudible ] have you moved forward on a [ inaudible ]? >> we don't know. and that's what we hope to build is -- is a -- a working working theory and then ultimately some sort of a design of what we believe they were going to do, but again, day 3, we just don't know. >> reporter: december 7th -- >> pardon me? >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> we don't know yet. it's certainly a possibility. but we do not know yet. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] indication that they were [ inaudible ]? >> we have -- we are still exploiting the data. i have not seen it yet. we're still exploiting that, and that will take time, but i truly believe that is going to be the potential golden nugget, but we

just don't know yet. >> reporter: do we have any information that there may have been something planned for that particular day and for some reason it got moved up? >> december 7th you said? >> reporter: yes. >> yes, i don't know of any reason why it took place on date. you had a lot of people in that room at that moment. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? any prior cases and if so, was he under active surveillance or not under surveillance? >> he was not under active surveillance. i do not believe there was any type of investigation pending on him. >> reporter: but did his name come up in connection with a probe. i'm thinking similar to the

boston bombing? >> i don't know at this point. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] landlord away and said he did not have permission [ inaudible ] do you have any concerns about that being [ inaudible ]? >> you are going to have to repeat that. >> reporter: do you have any concerns about the press turning the town home this morning, even though you said you completed the investigation there? >> one we turn it over or board it up, anyone who goes in at that point, that has nothing to do with us. >> reporter: sir, you say this is an about of terrorism, does this mean this is the first time if you conclude it's a isil, this is the first time that isil has attacked america. >> i think you are taking a leap there. we are investigating this as an act of terrorism. >> reporter: were they in telephonic communication with people in the u.s. or elsewhere? >> we know they were in

telephonic communications with people in the u.s. i'm not aware of overseas communication. we're working on that. >> reporter: the family and the lawyers questioned the veracity of the terrorist connection. is there anything there? what do you have to say to that? >> yeah, good question. yesterday i said to you, the fbi is an organization that is apolitical. we are a fact-finding organization, and we deal in fact. i don't have all of those facts yet. so i don't know the answer to the question you asked me. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] claimed responsibility. do you have anything on this -- >> not unusual that they would -- >> their official website where they post all of their video, they have claimed responsibility. >> i'm not surprised. maybe they did. maybe they didn't. but it only helps them to be

able to attach themselves to an act like this. >> reporter: is someone detained that gave him the rifles. >> there is a person of -- there is -- we don't know -- okay. let me go back on that one. there's some differentiations. there is a person who purchased those weapons, but i'll let atf answer the questions on the guns. the person is not under arrest at this point. >> but they are being questioned. >> they are not under arrest at this point. >> reporter: with that facebook post did they pledge allegiance to isil or baghdaddy or -- >> i'm aware of the facebook post you are mentioning. i saw the same thing you did. we don't know what is there yet.

>> reporter: mark zuckerberg confirms that post had been made, and it had been made just after the attack had started. >> i know it was in the general time line, and yes, there was a post of allegiance. >> reporter: tell us about the dynamic of the marriage. there is a lot of curiosity there. and some people are saying that perhaps the wife [ inaudible ]. can you give us anymore incite? >> i have been asked that, and i don't know the answer, whether she influenced him or not. being an husband myself we are all influenced to an extent, but i don't know the answer. >> reporter: what you have learned about here does that give you anymore belief that this was an act of terrorism? >> we're investigating as an act of terrorism. >> reporter: was the fbi aware of her before? >> we did not have her under

investigation previously. i'm going to take three more questions and then end. >> reporter: the telephones were found near the center or near the town house? >> i believe they were found near the town house? >> reporter: are you concerned that they were flying under the radar? that you didn't know that they were active? >> of course i'm concerned. any one of us would have loved to have stopped this act. when you go into a crime scene like that, it's horrific. >> reporter: no awareness that you weren't tracking them, that they weren't on your radar? >> of course i'm concerned. we didn't know -- there is nothing we have seen yet that would have triggered us to know. >> reporter: do you believe this is the existence of a cell? >> we don't know. what i can tell you is we are not aware of any further threats in the u.s. at this time. i want to go back to your point,

ma'am. you said the government spends a lot of money on surveillance, the fbi is also a federal law enforcement agency that is bound by federal law, so we don't do wide sweeping surveillance without legal authorization. yes, ma'am? >> reporter: [ inaudible ] an about of terror. what in practical terms does that mean for them? >> so what i would say, first of all, i think this -- this community -- i'm going to leave that to the chief and the sheriff to deal with and talk about. they are the true protectors of this community. i would say to this community, you have been incredibly resilient, we stand by you, our focus is to protect the homeland from attack. and we will absolutely engage when we see potential threats. as the director has said many times, we have a number of terrorist investigations across the country currently that are going on, that does include

extensive surveillance. so what i would tell the community, continue to do what you do. if you see things that are concerning, push them up to local law enforcement immediately. if they rise to a certain level or if you want to push it to local law enforcement and the fbi, feel free to do that. but go about your day. do not let this cause mass hysteria. we're not there. we're not there at all. we have a long-term very complex investigation that we have to complete, and that's going to take time, and a lot of energy, and hours, and agency expertise. but i assure the american public. we will do everything in our power within the law to get that done. thank you for your time. next i would like to introduce sheriff john mcman. >> thank you, dave.

my primary responsibility and the primary responsibility of the law enforcement leaders you see behind me is to ensure the safety of the public. there is evidence to suggest there is a terrorist section to this event. we have no known credible threats to the communities that we serve. i would ask that the community remain vigilant, don't hesitate to report any suspicious activity to local law enforcement. we have added additional resources, as have my partners that stand behind me, to ensure that we have the staff necessary to investigate and protect the communities that we serve. we have nothing to suggest there's anything additional associated with this event, but we remain partners up with the law enforcement with the fbi, atf, holand security, and if

any threats come about that appear to be credible or not, we will fully investigate those to ensure that the public is safe. i would echo that this is a team effort. we all have to work together as a team to address situations of this magnitude. we remain committed to working with the fbi, our local partners, our federal partners, to ensure that the resources that are needed are applied to make sure we investigate everything possible, and keep the citizens that we serve safe. thank you. >> reporter: sheriff is there a concern that there was no known credible threat in advance and then this occurred, and now we're back to an environment where there's no known credible threat, and could san bernardino or any other town in the nation be facing the same kind of thing happening an hour from now?

>> certainly that's a possibility. but crimes across our county and state oftentimes occur without any notice. you saw how the men and women of this law enforcement agency as well as our partners performed two days ago. considering how they performed and addressed the issue, i truly believe that we are prepared to deal with whatever threat or incident occurs. law enforcement is staffed up as i suggested, our local law enforce leaders remain in constant contact with one another. and as i suggested, my top priority as well as those that standing behind me is the safety of the public that we serve. thank you. >> okay. we have been listening to this press conference with the latest information from san bernardino police, the fbi. so a couple of lines we should get to right away here as we get ready to bring in allen schauffler, the fbi you heard is now taking over the

investigation. they are now the lead agency in this investigation. but i guess the headline is that this is officially, this crime, is officially being investigated as an -- act of terrorism. they wouldn't go so far as calling this the first isil attack on america. they certainly cannot make the distinction, and this is an important one, in an area that i think there is going to be a lot of discussion about, certainly today and i suspect over the next couple of days. the fbi cannot say if this was an attack that was instructed by isil; that perhaps the couple involved here was simply inspired by, but not instructed by isil. there is evidence that the subjects that the couple here tried to destroy their digital fingerprints. we heard from the fbi that there were a couple of cell phones

found in the immediate proximity of the center, and that those cell phones had been destroyed, no credible information that there is a threat to any of the surrounding areas. is the news conference continuing -- or was this typed from earlier? all right. the fine says the female shooter had not been previously under investigation, and could not say whether she was an influencing factor in the decision to carry out this attack. there is a line developing there. syed farook's wife posted her allegiance to isil on facebook the day of the attack. so if you are wondering what has turned the corner here, what information is the fbi going on to make this distinction that it is go longer being investigated as a case of workplace violence, but investigated as an about of terrorism, the posting on facebook would point to that. facebook executives -- or at

least one, saying that the online post praising isil happened as the attacks began. now there is no indication the group instructed her to do so, we mentioned that a couple of moments ago. but let's get to allen schauffler now. he is following this story and has been for a couple of days now. alan, i guess let's deal with the headline that this is being investigated as an act of terrorism. and let me read the line here. we are investigating it as an act of terror for a good reason. >> reporter: that's right, the agent saying they are investigating it this way for a very good reason. repeated questions about what leads him to believe that, he said he is not going to talk about those things in detail. but we have two suspects who were heavily armed with homemade bombs, a bomb-making factory of

sorts in their garage lots of weapons or enough weapons and plenty of ammunition, so what we all have seen that might have contributed to the fbi's decision. let's get to the agent, the second man in charge here in the los angeles area for the fbi, and here is the statement he made a couple of moments ago. >> as of today, based on the information and the facts as we know them, we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism. we have uncovered evidence that has lead us to learn of extensive planning, obviously we have uncovered evidences of explosives. >> reporter: there has also been a claim by a media outlet that is essentially the communications arm of isis, saying that two supporters of the organization, has carried

out this attack, and describing that, it stopped short of calling them operatives or agents. the agent said when that isis claim was brought up, he said he is not surprised at all that they have jumped on this bandwagon and made the claim that these were their people or their supporters as the statement said. again, no credible threats that they are aware of in this area or the u.s. at this time. no other suspects in custody at this point. although he did say that is something that could happen as time goes on, and he reminded all of us this is day 3. i want to introduce somebody right now who was a congragrant in the mosque that farook attended. the fbi coming out and saying

we're investigating this as a terror case. your response? >> i was hoping it wouldn't be. but let's see what the outcome of this is. we don't know exactly what the motive was. other than that -- i -- i don't really have a comment on that. >> reporter: is it startling to you -- first of all did you know mr. farook well? >> i wasn't in his private circle, his family issues or anything like that. i met him at the mosque regularly for prayers. he would come on his lunch break, and i would meet him then, and, you know, of course it is devastating, there's no word to describe my -- my shock and my community's shock. this was a person that we knew that was a good person, that was a nice individual, a very respectful person, and to hear that he is behind this acrosty is unbelievable.

we're mourning -- our community is mourning alongside our fellow community members. we're mourning. we are crying for them, we're trying to be there for them, and honor the losses they had. >> the fbi saying they are working with their foreign partners overseas now to see if there is any connection, and also saying they are looking into the claim from isis that these were supporters who carried out that attack. your response to that claim through the communications arm of the islamic state. >> i don't know. i know that as we learned, you know, recently that isis is using the media very well, and this is the method they are using to recruit. and the mosque locally, they are against this type of activity, this type of teaching if i myself would have known this is the type of ideology he had, i

would have reported him. i wouldn't have let it come to this. we are americans. yes, we are muslim. but we are here with the nation together. it's not us versus you. it's we. i was born here. this is my city. so i have been here my whole life, so i take this personally. >> reporter: thank you very much. appreciate you taking some time today. a pleasure. again, the bomb shell, of course today from the fbi was yep, we're investigating this as terrorism, period. tony? >> yeah, alan thank you. i want to give you a moment here from the news conference that wrapped up about ten minutes ago to give you a sense of how widespread this investigation is in terms of getting information about this attack. have a listen. >> we are working hand in hand with our other federal, local, and state partners. we are also working hand in hand

with our foreign counterparts to ensure that we find any connections that pertain to this matter. >> all right. i'm going to get to jamie mcintyre now. jamie, i know there was a white house press briefing. was there any news. i know there were questions about the ongoing investigation. what can you tell us about that? >> well, the white house was deferring to the fbi. there were a lot of questions about was this now a terrorism attack, especially with this news that one of the people involved the woman, had apparently made this posting to facebook pledging allegiance to isil. but the white house was deferring, waiting for the fbi to make that aunderstand noment. it became pretty obvious, i think when they went to the house and discovered the arsenal of munitions there, the -- the bomb-making equipment, that this wasn't just a workplace event,

but now we have the official word from the fbi, and it's interesting to me that they really believed that the digital fingerprints may lead them to answer the big question, which is what is the motive. at one point, the fbi agent referred to it as possibly the golden nugget that would help understand the case. >> yes. >> reporter: and he mentioned the two cell phones had been crushed, but he also said they were still mining them for data, and that's one of the things the fbi is very good at is retrieving data from devices that have supposedly been disabled. he also mentioned that there had been efforts to erase their digital fingerprints. so right now that seems to be the most promising avenue of attack. the fbi did not go so far yet as to make the connection to isil overseas, and also said obviously that it would be to

isil's benefit to claim responsibility. and you notice in that claim that we have, it basically says two people carried this out. it doesn't actually say -- getting back to your original point -- that they were directed by isil. so those were the questions directed at the fbi. they said we are a fact-finding organization, we rely on facts. >> yeah, this claim of isil responsibility, this apparently comes from a pro-isil news agency that is claiming that isil is claiming, right, so it gets a little tenuous here. jamie what about the information you are learning or maybe mentioned in the briefing today about the shooter's brother. >> well, interesting, this information came out very shortly after the shooting. but it turns out he had a brother also named syed farook.

he joined the navy back in 2003. he served four years. he was an it specialist, he got out after one routine term. his service record is routine in both a good and bad way. and he got out in 2007. tail of two brothers, i guess. >> yeah, one serving the country, and the other -- at least according to what we're hearing today, this is an investigation about terrorism, and it's being investigated that way. yeah, a tail of two brothers, indeed. jamie appreciate. let's bring in j.j. green. he is al jazeera america national security contributor. j.j. what does this say to you? today the fbi comes forward to

essentially say, one, we're taking over this investigation; and two, this is being investigated as an act of terrorism for a good reason. >> reporter: several thi thick -- things tony. they are being very careful and cautious about who or what makes them think this is a terrorist investigation, aside from the obvious. there is some evidence that there were some communications between the two with some persons of interest that the fbi was looking at. they say that happened telephonically, according to the assistant director in charge of the fbi in los angeles. but here is the most important piece of it. there has been rampant reporting that the wife pledged allegiance to isil on facebook or social

media. he said we are aware of that. it's really difficult to figure out if it was her or someone else that made that claim. although we do know that the islamic state is very good at tracking women, because they recognize that women can be attracted to violence and that other lifestyle as well as men. but the fbi has been very careful because of semantics and leverage. >> it's so interesting because having a cashe of weapons and pipe bombs alone, is not enough to make the connection. so that's not enough. a posting on facebook is not enough, because your have not to track the source of that. so that's not enough to make the connection. but there is clearly something that has lead the fbi to say this is now a terrorism investigation, and i'm not sure

i'm clear. are you clearer than i am as to what it is that the -- the fbi is working on here that has lead them to come out and -- and -- and make this statement? this is a strong statement. it takes workplace violence off of the table. >> one of the things i have learned from dealing with the fbi and any intelligence agency for a number of years, is you never tell all you know. >> absolute loi -- absolutely. >> reporter: what is clear to me is the fbi is well accustomed to what it takes to classify something as a terrorism situation, but as i was mentioning, there is an issue of semantics. because calling this the first isil attack on the homeland has a significant amount of -- >> absolutely j.j. green.

say it again. >> reporter: so they are being very careful about whether or not they say this before they are absolutely sure, because what that does, it is gives as you know, and everybody else knows -- i'm not telling anybody they don't know, it gives the islamic state propaganda material. >> yes. >> and that can generate other people interested, in engaging and acting out. and one other thing, the fbi has some very good forensic capabilities. they want to know who they have, what they have, and perhaps what they don't have. >> exactly. i think you are right to suggest they will go through those phones and retrieve everything they can, and build a narrative, because we don't have a narrative, yet. we don't have the story yet. and they are working on it.

i would be helpful if they would take a little time, maybe call fewer press conferences and put that narrative together for us, but we will continue to follow developments here, and we will bring you the very latest on all of this at 7:00 pm eastern time.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. more reporters, more stories, more perspective.

>> from our award-winning news teams across america and beyond. >> we've got global news covered. tonight free speech is the bed rock of a free society, but are there limits and would enforcing those limits threaten our freedom. should school kids be trained to fight back against gunman and my final thought on how saudi arabia is misterying a major opportunity to separate stiffly from i.s.i.l. i'm ali velshi. this is third rail. after i.s.i.l. struck paris on november 13, it called the city of light the capital of