The Trump administration delivered a blunt warning on Friday after a top intelligence official revealed that the Afghan suspect behind the deadly DC terror attack was never vetted before entering the U.S.
Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said the Biden administration opened the door to a catastrophic failure. Kent confirmed that Rahmanullah Lakanwal was “not vetted” before coming into the country in 2021.
Kent pointed directly at Biden’s mass-entry policies. He said more than 2 million people arrived “from Muslim majority nations and regions surged” with “minimal scrutiny amid record border crossings.” That number included roughly 85,000 Afghans who were “rapidly admitted” without the protections used in past administrations.
Kent explained that the suspected terrorist “was only vetted to serve as a soldier to fight against the Taliban, AQ, and ISIS in Afghanistan.” He said the approval for battlefield work “was not vetting for life in America.” He added that Lakanwal was never evaluated for life as a neighbor, a resident, or a future citizen.
A senior U.S. official backed Kent’s account. The official called the wartime vetting standard “a low standard” that had never been used before to admit someone into the homeland.
The official said that before Biden, Special Immigrant Visa applicants waited 18 months or longer because the government insisted on interviewing them in a third country.
The intelligence community is not the only one blaming Biden. Trump officials at Homeland Security and the CIA said the chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal created the opening that allowed Lakanwal into the country, per the New York Post.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the Biden team justified bringing him in “due to his prior work” with U.S. forces in Kandahar.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Lakanwal entered as part of Biden’s parole program. She said he came in with tens of thousands of other Afghans and that “this monster would not have been removed because of his parole.”
The suspected terrorist lived in Washington State after arriving under Operation Allies Welcome. He settled in Bellingham with his wife and five children. He later applied for asylum and received approval in April 2025.
Investigators say Lakanwal ambushed two National Guard members on Thanksgiving Eve in Washington, DC. Guard member Sarah Beckstrom was hit first and died the next day.
Andrew Wolfe remains in critical condition. Officials say the suspect opened fire with a revolver and then used Beckstrom’s rifle before being subdued by a hero Guardsman who stabbed him in the head while he reloaded.
Security experts warn that this attack is part of a larger failure. One veteran said there was “zero vetting” for tens of thousands of Afghans evacuated during the final days of Biden’s withdrawal. He said, “We have no idea who they are.”
The Trump administration has now paused all Afghan-related immigration. Visa processing for Afghan nationals is suspended. Asylum cases approved under Biden are being reviewed.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the Trump administration is taking “a whole of government effort to defend America’s national security.”
