Noem says National Guard shooting suspect could have been radicalized in US

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said that authorities believe the suspected shooter who opened fire on National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., last week might have been radicalized after he arrived in the United States.

The suspected gunman, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is accused of firing at two National Guard members, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, on Wednesday afternoon.

Lakanwal — an Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the U.S. war in Afghanistan — came to the U.S. after Afghanistan’s government fell to the Taliban in 2021 and he was granted asylum in April.

“He was brought into the country by the Biden administration through Operation Allies Welcome. And then, maybe vetted after that, but not done well, based on what the guidelines were put forward by President Biden,” Noem told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday morning. “And now, since he’s been here, we believe he could have been radicalized in his home community and in his home state.”

Pressed by Karl on whether any vetting had been performed by the Trump administration, which was in office when Lankwal was granted asylum earlier this year, Noem said that the information that was used to vet him was collected by the previous administration. 

“All the information that was gathered on that vetting process was gathered under the Biden administration. His asylum claim application started under the Biden administration. That information was provided by them, and the responsibility lies with them,” she said. 

Karl asked, “You were simply relying on what had been done under the Biden administration? You did no vetting before granting him asylum?”

Noem responded: “The processes put in place were put in place using information that was gathered during the application process. It happened under Joe Biden, and that has been completely fixed, and new metrics and new processes have been added under President Trump.”

But ABC News contributor and former Homeland Security undersecretary for intelligence John Cohen said under Operation Allies Welcome, those traveling to the U.S. were vetted against classified and unclassified intelligence, and submitted biographical and biometric data as part of the process. 

According to Cohen, while there were some delays in vetting — and even instances where individuals boarded planes or arrived at destinations prior to a full vetting being completed — those individuals had that information collected at processing locations. 

“These people spent anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, in some cases months, at these third-country lilypad sites,” Sam Aronson, a former State Department official who spent 10 days in Kabul at the height of the U.S. withdrawal, said. “That’s where the extensive vetting took place.”

Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen also pushed back against Noem’s assertion that the Biden administration’s vetting procedures led to Wednesday’s attack.

“We should always review our vetting, but in this case, there’s no evidence that there was something that escaped the vetting,” Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen criticized the Trump administration’s announcement on Friday that it was pausing all asylum decisions following the shooting.

“I do think it is outrageous and unfair to try to punish an entire class of people for the evil acts of one person. That is collective punishment,” he continued. “These are individuals who worked side by side with America in the fight against the Taliban. And if they were sent back now, the Taliban may likely kill them.”