There are concerns that IS could encourage women to join men in attacks on West

A Pakistani woman’s role as a shooter in the San Bernardino massacre is raising fears that foreign-born brides who support the Islamic State group could marry Americans to come to the U.S. to carry out extremist missions.
Experts in jihad, immigration lawyers and former U.S. diplomats say there’s no sign other foreign brides have sought Western marriages to launch attacks, and it’s still not clear if 29-year-old Tashfeen Malik did so. But, they warn, that could change, especially if IS militants begin actively encouraging women to join men in attacks in the West.
Opportunity to do damage

While the group currently bars women from taking up arms for combat or other attacks, its commanders are pragmatic and adaptable and could drop their ban at any time, security experts say.
“When they see an opportunity to do damage, and the best man for the job is a woman, they will use the woman,” said Sasha Havlicek, a founder of the British-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue, whose work includes monitoring the flow of women extremist recruits.
“We will see women more active in terror plots,” Ms. Havlicek predicted. “We already know they are radicalising in unprecedented numbers.”
A religious conservative who lived previously in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Malik joined her American-born husband of less than two years, Syed Farook, on Dec. 2 in donning tactical gear, grabbing assault weapons and slaughtering 14 people at his office holiday party in Southern California.
While women previously have served as suicide bombers for violent Islamist groups, experts describe Malik’s role as a breach of current IS limits on the role of women, and the group has been muted in its public responses to the killings.
Farook and his family, like many traditional families in South Asia and elsewhere, used regional matchmaking websites to search for a suitable bride, although it’s not clear if that’s how he met Malik.
Eric T. Dean Jr., a Connecticut-based immigration lawyer, said that the United States appears to give almost all would-be grooms from Pakistan seeking fiance visas an extra layer of security checks known as “administrative processing.” But he couldn’t recall a would-be Pakistani bride getting that extra scrutiny.
The Islamic State group, meanwhile, has avidly sought wwomen recruits to serve as brides for fighters in its territory in Syria.
So far, IS has noted the husband-and-wife team publicly only as “supporters.” Malik went on Facebook at the time of the attack to swear the couple’s allegiance to the group.
Perhaps because of Malik’s role, female IS recruits who’ve been quick to crow online about other beheadings, bombings and shootings have been hushed about this attack, said Melanie Smith, another researcher at Havlicek’s Center for Strategic Dialogue.