Overview
- Director Joseph Kent told the House Homeland Security Committee that an NCTC analysis identified about 18,000 people on terrorism watchlists admitted during the 2021 airlift, with roughly 2,000 tied to the Afghan evacuee cohort.
- Kent said NCTC is working with DHS and the FBI to investigate the approximately 2,000 evacuees assessed to have ties to terrorist organizations.
- He testified that the 18,000 figure does not include unknown individuals who entered illegally across the southern border, which he described as the top current risk.
- Kent criticized the rapid processing under Operation Allies Welcome, asserting that some entrants with links to ISIS or al-Qaeda would not normally have been permitted and were not properly vetted.
- Recent cases cited in the hearing and reporting include a Nov. 26 Washington, D.C., shooting suspect identified as an Afghan evacuee and several post-Thanksgiving arrests of Afghan nationals alleged to be plotting attacks.