A foreign government told the FBI in early 2011 about information that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the brothers suspected in the bombings, was a follower of radical Islam, the Associated Press reported.
The FBI said it then spoke to Tsarnaev and his relatives, but did not find any domestic or foreign terrorism activity, raising heightened alarms in counterterrorism analysts that these subjects may have fallen through the cracks. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a gun battle with police on Thursday night. His brother, Dzhokhar, was found after a massive manhunt in Watertown, Massachussetts and brought into custody on Friday.
According to the federal bureau of investigation, the foreign government told them that Tsarnaev was a follower of radical Islam, a strong believer who changed drastically since 2010, even preparing to leave the U.S. for travel to the country's region to join unspecified underground groups, the Associated Press reported.
The Tsarnaev family came to U.S. security officials attention after they emigrated to the United States about a decade ago, and it could raise questions about whether the government missed potential warning signs about the behavior of two brothers, Reuters reported.
"It's new information to me and it's very disturbing that he's on the FBI radar screen," Texas Representative Michael McCaul said, who is also the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Reuters reported that investigators continue to scour government data banks to determine if spy and police agencies missed potential clues that might have alerted them to the two brothers. A top priority for investigators is to determine whether the brothers had a broader network, and influenced by radical clerics either inside the United States or overseas, one U.S. official said.
A Youtube account belong to Tamerlan Tsarnaev apparently shows his affinity to radical Islam.
This official and others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
