Suspect in Washington DC national guard shooting had ties to CIA, agency confirms | Washington DC
The suspected shooter of two National Guard members in Washington DC on Wednesday worked with CIA-backed military units during the US war in Afghanistan, the agency confirmed.
The suspected shooter, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, arrived in the United States in September 2021 as part of an Operation Allies Welcome program that granted U.S. entry visas to some Afghans who worked for the U.S. government.
Lakanwal’s ties to the Central Intelligence Agency, which worked alongside US special forces in Afghanistan, were confirmed by CIA Director John Ratcliffe to the media on Wednesday evening.
The New York Times reported that the suspect had worked for several US government agencies in Afghanistan, including a CIA-backed unit in the southern province of Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold.
“The Biden administration justified the suspected shooter’s arrival in the United States in September 2021 because of his prior work with the U.S. government, including the CIA,” Ratcliffe told Fox News digital, adding that Lakanwal’s involvement with the agency was “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly after the chaotic evacuation.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said after the shooting that it had stopped processing residency applications from Afghan nationals.
“Effective immediately, the processing of all immigration applications involving Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and screening protocols,” the agency said on social media.
Following the shooting, Donald Trump ordered 500 additional National Guard troops to be sent to Washington. The president called the shooting “an act of terror” and called immigration “the greatest national security threat facing our country.”
