Nick Rasmussen:

Well, when a case occurs like the one that you just spoke about that emerged today, it's easier for federal law enforcement in some ways to pursue charges against the person in advance of them actually carrying out a criminal act.

An individual who, either in their online activity or in speaking to an undercover person, an agent of the FBI, that offers support for the Islamic State, for example, that is enough to bring them into legal jeopardy and to give the FBI the ability to use a whole suite of investigative tools.

On the other hand, the individual who carried out the attack against the synagogue in California is a harder problem for law enforcement. That individual may not have taken any steps or engaged in any behavior before the actual attack that would have allowed law enforcement to actually engage in investigative behavior.

And that's somewhat of a distinction between domestic terrorism on the one hand and international terrorism on the other hand, a distinction that may not make sense in the current environment.