Obama errs in speech on Pak woman shooter's visa status

In a rare slip, President Barack Obama today wrongly said that Tashfeen Malik, the Pakistani woman accused of carrying out the grisly California massacre along with her husband, arrived in the US under a visa waiver programme, forcing the White House to issue a correction.
In his 13-minute prime time address to the nation in the aftermath of the San Bernardino terror attack Obama said he has "ordered the departments of State and Homeland Security to review the visa waiver program under which the female terrorist in San Bernardino originally came to this country."
"And that's why I will urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice," he had said.

Obama also said that American should put in place stronger screening for those who come to America without a visa so that we can take a hard look at whether they have traveled to warzones.
27-year-old Malik arrived in the US on a K-1 visa, known as a "fiance visa" to marry Syed Farook, the other assailant who fired indiscriminately at a party attended by his colleagues last Wednesday.
"She was issued the K-1 visa - which is normally given to fiance - by the US Embassy in Islamabad. Once a K-1 visa is issued, as per general procedure, the person has to marry the fiancee within 90 days of the arrival in the US," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner had said last Friday.

While Farook, 28, was a US citizen, Tashfeen was in the US on a Pakistani passport and had a K1 "fiance visa", David Bowdich, assistant director of the Los Angeles Federal Bureau of Investigation office had said.
"She was issued, a K-1 so- called "fiance visa" in 2012. She did receive that from Pakistan that allowed her to travel here to the US," Toner said.
The White House later acknowledged Obama's error and in the transcript of his speech mentioned: "Please see below for a correction, marked with an asterisk.