Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said that authorities believe the suspected shooter who they say 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 was granted asylum in April of this year.
"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."
Noem repeatedly claimed that the alleged shooter was "unvetted" by the Biden administration. Pressed by Karl on whether any vetting had been performed by the Trump administration, which had been in office for several months when Lakanwal 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."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/noem-national-guard-shooting-suspect-radicalized-us/story
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