US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggests that a suspect involved in a National Guard shooting last week may have been radicalized after arriving in the United States.
According to Noem, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who is an Afghan national and had worked with the CIA during the US war in Afghanistan, may have undergone inadequate vetting by the Biden administration. Lakanwal was granted asylum in April this year under Operation Allies Welcome, a program aimed at resettling Afghan nationals who worked with the US government.
Noem claimed that Lakanwal's asylum claim application started under the Biden administration and that the responsibility for his vetting lies with them. However, others familiar with the process have disputed her claims, saying that Afghans who resettled in the US were indeed vetted against classified and unclassified intelligence.
A senior US official told ABC News that Lakanwal had been vetted at one point by the National Counterterrorism Center and "nothing came up" during that review. The suspect's arrangement with the CIA during the war would have almost certainly required him to be vetted by the agency at the time.
Senator Chris Van Hollen also pushed back against Noem's assertion, saying that there is no evidence that the Biden administration's vetting procedures led to the attack. He criticized the Trump administration's announcement on Friday that it was pausing all asylum decisions following the shooting as "collective punishment" for Afghan nationals who worked with the US government.
The incident has raised concerns about the vetting process for Afghan nationals who resettled in the US after the Taliban takeover in 2021.
According to Noem, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who is an Afghan national and had worked with the CIA during the US war in Afghanistan, may have undergone inadequate vetting by the Biden administration. Lakanwal was granted asylum in April this year under Operation Allies Welcome, a program aimed at resettling Afghan nationals who worked with the US government.
Noem claimed that Lakanwal's asylum claim application started under the Biden administration and that the responsibility for his vetting lies with them. However, others familiar with the process have disputed her claims, saying that Afghans who resettled in the US were indeed vetted against classified and unclassified intelligence.
A senior US official told ABC News that Lakanwal had been vetted at one point by the National Counterterrorism Center and "nothing came up" during that review. The suspect's arrangement with the CIA during the war would have almost certainly required him to be vetted by the agency at the time.
Senator Chris Van Hollen also pushed back against Noem's assertion, saying that there is no evidence that the Biden administration's vetting procedures led to the attack. He criticized the Trump administration's announcement on Friday that it was pausing all asylum decisions following the shooting as "collective punishment" for Afghan nationals who worked with the US government.
The incident has raised concerns about the vetting process for Afghan nationals who resettled in the US after the Taliban takeover in 2021.
I mean, come on... if Lakanwal was cleared by the National Counterterrorism Center and nothing came up during that review, then what's the excuse? 
It sounds like Noem is trying to shift the blame for this guy being a suspect in a shooting to the Biden admin. But didn't they do their due diligence? I'm not saying it's impossible that someone could've slipped through the cracks, but we need more info here... 
I mean, we're talking about a US agency here, not some random contractor. And now we're trying to figure out how this guy ended up being a suspect in a shooting... it's just too convoluted for my taste 
.
this whole thing just shows us how complex and nuanced vetting can be, right? like, we want to trust people who've helped us in the past, but also gotta make sure they're not gonna hurt us in the future 
. we need to have open conversations about how we can improve these vetting procedures without making assumptions or generalizations about an entire group of people 
. maybe instead of blaming one admin for another, we should focus on finding common ground and learning from our mistakes 
.
. I mean, what's going on here is that we're having to question people's backgrounds and intentions just because of a tragic event? It's like, come on! We can't let fear and paranoia control our lives 
. And now Kristi Noem is saying that Rahmanullah Lakanwal was radicalized after arriving in the US? That's just speculation at this point 
.
. What really concerns me is that we're starting to create an environment where people are hesitant to work with us or come here in the first place 
.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal sounds like a super shady character, especially with his CIA connections 
. Like, isn't there more to the story? 
.
. We need to make sure we're doing everything we can to keep our borders safe without being too harsh on people who were already traumatized 
.
i mean, come on, a guy from Afghanistan was radicalized because he didn't get "proper" vetting under their watch? how convenient 
and what's with Noem trying to shift the blame onto them like they're the only ones who can mess up vetting procedures? 
.
.
.
.