President Obama sought anew to assure an anxious nation heading into the holiday season that its government could keep people safe, saying there were no “specific and credible” terrorist threats but that authorities remained ever-vigilant as concerns about “self-radicalizing” actors grew. The president critiqued his own response to the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, acknowledging that he had failed to assuage fears stirred by the attacks, and redoubling his efforts. He visited the National Counterterrorism Center Thursday, and told journalists that putting boots on the ground in Syria risked a replay of the Iraq war, with overwhelming costs—in casualties as well as military investment—not only in Damascus, but in Yemen and Libya, among other arenas where ISIS has been active.

Obama also discussed an ongoing review of visa programs to ensure screening procedures addressed security concerns heightened by the news that one of the San Bernardino shooters had entered the country under such a program.   

Sens. Feinstein and Flake added language to the House-passed omnibus spending bill seeking to strengthen the visa waiver program, requiring the use of electronic passports (which the sponsors say are more secure and tamper-resistant) and bolstering information-sharing between the U.S. and countries taking part in the program. Sen. Marco Rubio said he might try to stall the omnibus spending bill out of concern over the security of the refugee resettlement program. But he may have missed his window while out on the campaign trail; the Senate went ahead and scheduled a vote for Friday.

Advocates and grantees, led by the ACLU, continued to voice concern over rider language that did make it into the final spending bill—including elements of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, allowing  consumers’ financial data to be shared with the NSA.

The bill’s outlook was uncertain heading into Friday’s vote, in part because of unhappiness in the House Progressive Caucus over a provision lifting a ban on the export of US crude oil, and the fact that the package is silent on Puerto Rico’s debt crisis.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate may revisit debate over the National Security Administration’s surveillance powers, and specifically the Patriot Act, in the wake of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks.

Fallout from Tuesday’s debate continued to shape GOP campaign dynamics. Ted Cruz’s debate statements, staking out a harder line on undocumented persons than before, put him on the defensive against several of his rivals for the nomination. "There’s a reason why I think the new politically correct term is no longer illegal aliens, it’s now undocumented Democrats," Cruz said, adding “I oppose amnesty. I oppose citizenship. I oppose legalization. I always have and I always will.”

Bernie Sanders paid a visit to a mosque two miles from the White House, saying Donald Trump’s rhetoric about Muslims was reflective of “centuries of bigotry and discrimination, sometimes with unspeakable results.” The occasion for the meeting: an inter-faith roundtable discussion at Masjid Muhammad, which has been around since the 1930s and is sometimes referred to as “the nation’s mosque.”  The two other Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley, have also met with Muslim leaders over the last week.

Frank Gaffney of the Center for National Security, whose Islamophobia has been called out  by such grantees  as the Southern Poverty Law Center as well as mainstream conservatives, hosted a conference in Las Vegas. Sen. Ted Cruz appeared and gave Gaffney a testimonial.  

In California, authorities arrested a friend of San Bernardino shooting suspect Syed Farook, charging him with providing material support for the commission of crimes of terrorism. The friend, 24-year-old Enrique Marquez, stands accused  of providing Farook with several weapons used in the attacks (according to law enforcement officials, Marquez waived his right to remain silent and has been cooperating with authorities, confessing to supplying rifles). Sen. Leahy seized on the arrest to call for legislation to impose federal criminal penalties for the straw purchase of guns and toughen penalties for trafficking weapons to terrorists.  

A new study out from the Qatar Computing Research Institute (it does business with Google and Microsoft) examined the flood of social media following the November attacks in Paris. The study found that support for refugees came from all over the world. Anti-refugee messages, and those critical of religion, came overwhelmingly from the United States.

In the “with friends like these who needs enemies” category, Donald Trump received an endorsement of sorts from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called Trump the “absolute leader” in the presidential campaign.

Among grantee and advocate activities:

--America’s Voice deconstructed the Rubio-Cruz immigration fight. In the words of executive director Frank Sharry, “a party that needs to expand its appeal in a country undergoing a huge demographic transition has lurched to the right in a way that is likely to make it unelectable in the 2016 presidential race.  Mitt Romney learned the hard way.  The RNC learned the hard way.  Smart Republicans such as Lindsey Graham know.  But the Trump effect and the ambitions of two young candidates are cementing the GOP’s reputation as a party hostile to Latinos, Asian-Americans and people of color. ”

--The Center for Democracy and Technology put out guidance on privacy best practices for the private use of drones.

--Human Rights First released a statement praising the Obama administration’s decision to release 17 more inmates held at Gitmo by the end of next month.