What on earth were we thinking to allow over 100,000 Afghan nationals to flood into this country with little to no background checks?
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is not going to wait for the next tragic event to answer that. Gabbard is conducting a complete review of every Afghan national allowed into this country during the Biden era evacuation of Afghanistan, focusing on the tens of thousands identified as having terrorism ties or derogatory information.
This is not theater. This is basic national security. We should have started this review immediately after the Biden-Harris administration abandoned all vetting procedures during their chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
It has been reported that at least 2,000 of those evacuees are connected to terrorist organizations. That is not speculation; that is the intelligence community’s own assessment of the situation after the hasty 2021 pull-out. Under Biden and Harris, speed was given precedence to safety. Common-sense was disregarded in favor of the ideological position. Now, American families are left to wonder who is actually living among them.
Gabbard was very clear: working in conjunction with the FBI, DHS and the National Counter Terrorism Center, her team will identify, locate and remove any threats. There will be no more ignoring. There will be no more rationalizations regarding “humanitarian” concerns which were based upon the desire to ignore the obvious risks.
Of course, the left will claim xenophobia, etc. They do that whenever anyone attempts to prioritize the lives of Americans over open border policies and/or lax screening.
But, patriots understand the reality - open borders and lax screening are not compassion. Those are a loaded gun aimed directly at the backs of the American people.
We’ve seen this movie before. Nineteen hijackers took advantage of weak immigration and vetting laws to kill nearly 3000 Americans on 9/11. Radical Islamist terrorists have committed deadly attacks in San Bernardino, Orlando, Boston and elsewhere, and most times they slipped through cracks in the system due to bureaucratic incompetence and political correctness. How many more wake-up calls does this country need before we cease gambling with radical Islam?
Gabbard’s actions expose the sheer recklessness of the last administration. They flew in people from a Taliban controlled nation without properly screening them, and then dispersed them throughout U.S. cities. Some of those people had known or suspected terror connections. Many of those people came from cultures that held views incompatible with American liberty. Then, the deep state pretended to be shocked when problems arose.
This full revetting of the Afghan evacuees sends a strong message: America is no longer a welcoming mat for potential threats. Gabbard, a combat veteran with real world experience in these areas, understands the risk involved much better than the amateur theorists who put us into this situation.
It will not be easy. Identifying each person, checking multiple records and seeking deportation where applicable will require time, money and resolve. But it is the absolute minimum needed to regain confidence in our immigration system.
Critics on the left are already framing this as a war on refugees. Funny how they never seem concerned about the American victims of terror, or the communities under strain by unvetted arrivals. Their selective outrage says it all.
Tulsi Gabbard is showing us what true leadership looks like - facing difficult realities rather than covering them up. By initiating this review, she is not only rectifying the mistakes of the Biden Administration, but also preventing the next one.
Will this catch all of the bad actors before it’s too late? Or will the usual suspects in Congress and the media attempt to undermine efforts to protect their failed open border ideology?
One thing is for sure: after years of denial and disaster, someone in Washington is finally prioritizing American safety. The Afghan vetting overhaul is long past due, and Tulsi Gabbard deserves accolades for refusing to pass the buck.
The rest of the administration would do well to follow her example. Secure the homeland. Enforce the rules. Stop pretending that importing unvetted risks from the heart of the jihadist movement is “who we are.”
America survived 9/11 and two decades of war, only to have the opportunity to avoid repeating the same deadly mistakes at home. Thanks to Gabbard leading the charge on intelligence, there may be hope that we won’t.
