In December 2015 , a New York Times story by Schmidt and Apuzzo ( written together with Julia Preston ) criticized the US government for missing crucial evidence during the visa vetting process for Tashfeen Malik , who would later become one of the shooters in the 2015 San Bernardino attack . The director of the FBI dismissed the reporting as " garble " and it turned out that rather than having " talked openly on social media about her views on violent jihad " as stated in the NYT article , she had mentioned these in private communications . The New York Times ' public editor called for " systemic changes " after these articles by Schmidt and his coauthors ( both of which had relied on anonymous government sources )
2015 San Bernardino attack
2015 San Bernardino attack
Michael S. Schmidt