WASHINGTON — A top Trump administration intelligence official said Friday that the suspected Afghan terrorist who gunned down two National Guard service members was “not vetted” before being allowed to enter the US in 2021.
Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, posted on X that the Biden administration was to blame for the lapse in vetting of Rahmanullah Lakanwal, which has led to the death of Guardswoman Sarah Beckstrom.
“During Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, his administration negligently used the vetting standard described above as the standard for being brought directly into the U.S., foregoing previous vetting standards applied to Special Immigrant Visas and any common sense vetting or concern for Americans,” Kent said.
“As a result, over 85k Afghans—including individuals with backgrounds similar to this shooter— were rapidly admitted into our country without the rigorous vetting that has protected us in the past.”
The NCTC director said there were more than 2 million in total who entered “from Muslim majority nations & regions surged … often with minimal scrutiny amid record border crossings.”
“This is a deadly combination,” Kent concluded.
The intel official noted that the suspected terrorist “was only vetted to serve as a soldier to fight against the Taliban, AQ, & ISIS IN Afghanistan, he was NOT vetted for his suitability to come to America and live among us as a neighbor, integrate into our communities, or eventually become an American citizen.”
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