Late Friday, the FBI finally admitted that it had interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older Boston Marathon bombing suspect who was killed by police early Friday morning. The FBI reversed itself after the Tsarnaevs’ mother, Zubeidat, told Russia Today that her son had been monitored by the FBI on Skype, and actually spoke with him “every step of the way.” She said, “They used to come [to our] home, they used to talk to me … they were telling me that he was really an extremist leader and that they were afraid of him. They told me whatever information he is getting, he gets from these extremist sites… they were controlling him, they were controlling his every step…and now they say that this is a terrorist act!”
CBS News correspondent Bob Orr said that the FBI conducted the investigation into Tsarnaev after requests from a foreign government – likely Russia — but could not uncover any ties between Tsarnaev and any foreign terrorist entities.
CBS reports that the FBI likely ran a background check, including foreign communications and overseas travel. He was finally interviewed personally by the FBI.
This is the latest in a pattern of late intelligence from the FBI. They missed the boat on 9/11; they had a bead on Major Hasan Nadal prior to his terror attack at Fort Hood; they even interviewed Carlos Bledsoe, man who murdered a soldier at a recruitment post in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2009.