Counter-terror center did not evaluate Afghan evacuees before they entered US: Report
Feb 17, 2022
Washington [US], February 17 : Afghans evacuated to the US during the Taliban conquest of Afghanistan last summer were not fully vetted by the National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC) before arrival, a new report revealed on Thursday.
"[W]e found that Afghan evacuees were not vetted by the NCTC using all data prior to arriving in CONUS [Continental United States]," a Defense Department Inspector General report said on Thursday.
The failure occurred because Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) enrollments were compared against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Automated Biometric Identification System data.
However, the report said the data did not initially include all biometric data in the Defense Department's Automated Biometric Identification System.
"[I]n August 2021, NGIC personnel expanded their normal analytic review of all biometric watch list matches to also include non-watch list matches of Afghan evacuees using all [Defense Department] data to close these gaps. ... The NGIC entered into an agreement with the DHS to access the necessary CBP records," the report added.
Later, the US official then identified Afghans with derogatory information in the Automated Biometric Identification System database that was believed to be in the US and subsequently developed informal procedures to notify both the Defense Department and other agencies about these individuals.
