The Pentagon Office of Inspector General (OIG) will review a whistleblower’s allegations that hundreds of Afghan evacuees entered the U.S. despite their appearance on a Pentagon watchlist — and claims that officials did not follow correct procedures.
In a letter to Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., acting Inspector General Sean O’Donnell says his office will conduct a review next fiscal year about allegations "that hundreds of Afghan evacuees were allowed to enter the United States despite appearing on the DoD’s Biometrically Enabled Watchlist, and that officials at the National Security Council and DoD did not follow proper procedures when processing evacuees in Afghanistan and at staging bases."
The Defense Department whistleblower had reported to Johnson and Hawley that 324 of the more than 76,000 evacuees brought to the U.S. from Afghanistan in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal have appeared on the Pentagon’s watchlist — which includes known or suspected terrorists.
A prior report by the Pentagon’s IG in February found that at least 50 evacuees were brought to the U.S. whose information indicated "potentially serious security concerns." The report also revealed that officials were unable to locate dozens of individuals with "derogatory information" that would have made them ineligible for parole into the U.S.
A footnote in that report stated that the "significant security concerns include individuals whose latent fingerprints have been found on...
A new exchange of sharp political statements has emerged after US President Donald Trump made claims on Truth Social that were directly rejected by Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghaliba...