Standing outside the Orlando Pulse nightclub immediately after the June 2016 massacre there, Nelson called Omar Mateen a "lone wolf," and when asked if it was an act of jihad he said he could not confirm that. Shortly afterwards, citing intelligence sources, Nelson said there was apparently "a link to Islamic radicalism," perhaps ISIS. Nelson later said on the Senate floor that "terrorists...want to divide people" but that Mateen had instead "brought people together. Following the massacre, Nelson and Barbara Mikulski supported an increase in FBI funding. A year after the Orlando massacre, Nelson attended a memorial at which he reiterated that it had "united Orlando and it united the country."