Pentagon watchdog to launch probe into claims US let in hundreds of individuals on watchlist

The Pentagon’s acting inspector general is launching a probe into whistleblower claims the Biden administration brought hundreds of individuals from Afghanistan to the U.S. who are on the Defense Department’s watch list. 

Acting IG Sean O’Donnell sent a letter, first reported by Axios, to GOP Sens. Ron Johnson, Wisc., and Josh Hawley, Mo., telling them he would conduct the investigation in fiscal year 2023, which begins in October. 

O’Donnell said he also plans to investigate claims that Biden’s National Security Council and the Pentagon cut corners and ‘did not follow proper procedures when processing evacuees in Afghanistan and at staging bases [in Europe].’ 

Hawley and Johnson said a whistleblower had come to them to say 324 individuals evacuated from Afghanistan were allowed to enter the United States, despite appearing on the DoD’s Biometrically Enabled Watchlist (BEWL).

Evacuees on the list have been ‘determined by analysts to be threats or potential threats to national security, including known suspected terrorists (KST).’ 

The whistleblower alleged that rather than administer fingerprint tests on all 10 fingers, personnel were told to ‘abbreviate’ biometric tests to keep up with the onslaught of evacuees. The whistleblower also alleged Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees were authorized to delete old biometric data that they believed to be out of date. 

Acting IG Sean O’Donnell sent a letter, first reported by Axios , to GOP Sens. Ron Johnson, Wisc., and Josh Hawley, Mo., telling them he would conduct the investigation in fiscal year 2023, which begins in October

O’Donnell said he also plans to investigate claims that Biden’s National Security Council and the Pentagon cut corners and ‘did not follow proper procedures when processing evacuees in Afghanistan and at staging bases [in Europe]’

In this no-famous photo a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III safely transported approximately 640 Afghan citizens from Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 15, 2021

Republicans have already promised to investigate President Biden’s bungled withdrawal if they take back control of Congress, and the watchdog’s investigation will only add fuel to the fire.  

The inspector general’s office made clear it was not a ‘formal investigation’ as those are usually criminal in nature. 

O’Donnell was careful to say he is investigating the senator’s questions about the allegations rather than the whistleblower’s allegations themselves, since the whistleblower went to the pair of GOP senators rather than the OIG. 

The DHS watchdog already found that department lacked ‘critical data to properly screen, vet and inspect’ Afghan evacuees after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, according to a report made public by CBS News on Wednesday. 

Hawley and Johnson said a whistleblower had come to them to say 324 individuals evacuated from Afghanistan were allowed to enter the United States, despite appearing on the DoD’s Biometrically Enabled Watchlist (BEWL)

Under Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), the U.S. processed tens of thousands of evacuees using the expedited process of humanitarian parole

The report said ‘dozens’ of Afghan evacuees with ‘derogatory information’ got admitted into the country.

‘DHS may have admitted or paroled individuals into the United States who pose a risk to national security and the safety of local communities,’ according to the report.

The 34-page report by the DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found the department granted parole and temporary legal permission to enter and stay in the U.S. to Afghan evacuees who ‘were not fully vetted.’ 

‘U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not always have critical data to properly screen, vet, or inspect the evacuees,’ DHS IG Joseph Cuffari said, according to CBS. ‘We determined some information used to vet evacuees through U.S. Government databases, such as name, date of birth, identification number, and travel document data, was inaccurate, incomplete, or missing,’ he added.

The U.S. has granted parole to about 72,550 of the more than 79,000 Afghan evacuees who arrived in the country between July 2021 and January 2022, according to DHS data.