A top U.S. counterterrorism official said Thursday that 18,000 people on the FBI terrorism watch list entered the country during the Biden administration's 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Joseph Kent, the Trump administration's National Counterterrorism Center director, informed the House Homeland Security Committee that the center recently reached an "alarming" finding about individuals admitted to the U.S. four years ago.
"NCTC has identified around 18,000 known and suspected terrorists that the Biden administration let come into our country," Kent told the committee.
"We've identified 2,000 of that group ... who have ties to terrorist organizations," he said. "This is probably the top terrorist threat that we face right now. And that doesn't include the individuals who came here illegally through the open border. That number alarmingly remains unknown at this time."
Kent also highlighted the role of NCTC's Regional Representatives, senior officers deployed across the country who share intelligence, provide training, and, at the FBI's request, support terrorism investigations with a foreign nexus.
He noted their work now extends beyond traditional terrorism cases to coordination with Homeland Security task forces, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations to counter cartels and gangs, including deployments along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The director warned that terrorist groups continue to seek ways to exploit U.S. borders and said NCTC and the broader intelligence community are investing heavily in identity intelligence and improved screening and vetting, which he described as the nation's "last line of defense."
Kent pointed to the National Vetting Center, established in 2018, as a key tool that has made the counterterrorism community more integrated and effective by consolidating and rapidly sharing intelligence to support frontline screening decisions.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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