The Department of Defense’s watchdog told two Republican senators that it will evaluate claims that hundreds of Afghan evacuees were allowed to enter the U.S. despite being on the department’s watchlist.
“As part of our ongoing body of work on Afghan evacuees, we are initiating an evaluation, to commence in the first quarter of [fiscal year] 2023, to address your questions pertaining to the DoD’s role in reviewing DoD databases for information on Afghan evacuees when requested by other agencies,” acting Pentagon Inspector General Sean O’Donnell wrote in a letter to Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) obtained by The Hill.
The evaluation will also look into claims that officials at the National Security Council and Department of Defense “did not follow proper procedures when processing evacuees in Afghanistan and at staging basis.”
The development was first reported by Axios.
The inspector general’s evaluation is not criminal in nature but comes as the administration faces unanswered questions regarding the evacuation.
O’Donnell was responding to an Aug. 4 letter from the two senators regarding allegations they received from a Pentagon whistleblower. The senators said the whistleblower had told them that the administration evacuated 324 individuals from Afghanistan who appeared on the agency’s watchlist. The whistleblower claimed that those evacuated included “known suspected terrorists.”
The senators also said the person claimed that White House and Defense...
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