agreed -if traveling back to russia is when they were radicalized... maybe once you move here... then leave.... you cannot come back? That might limit a lot of this. If they want to train, study, hate on us, they have to do it HERE where we can monitor it and catch them much earlier.
I'm just trying to think of actual policies which are realistic, and which could make a big difference.
i don't see why we CAN'T end all religion. not in a violent fell swoop kind of manner, but slowly over time eliminate it through science and fact-based logic. i personally think without religion, there would be much less terrorism. i find that far more realistic (albeit long-term) than monitoring every american 24/7 to see what they comment about on their twitters and facebooks. that's a HUGE violation of privacy and the Constitution. not to mention free speech. reminds me of that tom cruise movie, minority report, where they arrest people for "future crimes". nothing the guy did really screams terrorist, and even if it does, we can't deport him just like that because we believe in the concept of "innocent until proven guilty". yeah he had a domestic violence charge. how many white trash rednecks beat their wives and don't get deported? and even the traveling to russia part, how do we know for sure that he received military training without constantly monitoring him, which would be not only unconstitutional, but probably expensive for the US taxpayer.
so yes, i think in the long term, we SHOULD strive to end religion. in the short term, well i agree with you on more armed americans. and i think we need to change our foreign policy as well and stop meddling in other peoples' affairs. and as for the immigration issue, we either
A. perform more thorough background checks and deport suspicious people like you suggest, accepting that a larger number of potentially honest, hard-working people will not be allowed into the country in order to accommodate our security needs, or
B. keep giving them the benefit of the doubt and allowing them into the country while accepting that on occasion a few crazies will slip through the cracks, but it's the cost of freedom.