Tag: national guard

“Got To Be CIA Front”: Internet Sleuths Scour Web For Clues On DC Afghan Shooter

The ex-CIA-linked Afghan national who killed one National Guard soldier and critically injured another just blocks from the White House has set off alarm bells across the nation and in national security circles.

The attack – likely soon to be designated as terrorism – highlights how nation-killing open borders, reckless Afghan intake policies, and broader migrant inflows from hellish third worlds, combined with the Democratic Party’s suicidal empathy, have worked in unison to flood the country with tens of millions of poorly vetted people.

Former CIA targeting officer Sarah Adams has repeatedly warned about this threat: individuals with prior militant training or hostile intent have flooded the nation through these migrant inbound intake pipelines during the Biden-Harris regime years.

FBI Director Kash Patel has stated that Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s brutal attack in DC earlier this week, which horrified the nation, is being investigated as an act of terrorism.

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FBI Raids $2,000-a-Month Washington Apartment of Afghan Immigrant Who Ambushed Two National Guard Soldiers Near White House

FBI agents raided the $2,000-a-month apartment in Bellingham, Washington, on Thursday, executing search warrants as part of a rapidly expanding terrorism probe tied to Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the gunman who ambushed and shot two National Guard members just steps from the White House.

Lakanwal is facing at least three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, along with criminal possession of a weapon.

Authorities have hinted that additional federal charges, possibly terrorism-related, could be forthcoming.

The raid, led by FBI counterterrorism agents, seized multiple electronic devices, cellphones, laptops, iPads, from a residence that stunned neighbors described as “sparse,” with no beds, just couch cushions they would sleep on, and “barely any furniture,” IBT reported.

According to locals, Lakanwal spoke little English, barely mingled with neighbors, and was ‘often seen playing Call of Duty’ inside his apartment.

The operation also included searches of properties in both Washington state and San Diego, where agents reportedly collected additional digital materials.

The FBI confirmed that this is no longer just a shooting investigation, it is now a full-scale counterterrorism operation, possibly with international angles.

Officials confirmed special interviews have been conducted with Lakanwal’s relatives, including his brother, who is also living in the United States.

Before securing his own residence, Lakanwal and his family, his wife, Khamila, and five young sons, were housed by a Washington State couple who launched a now-deleted GoFundMe campaign.

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What We Know About the CIA Backed ‘Zero Units’ the Afghan National Guard Shooter Served In

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, CIA Director John Ratcliffe has confirmed, the suspected National Guard shooter, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, previous worked for a special force unit in Afghanistan that worked under the CIA.

Now new information is coming to light about the Kandahar Strike Force or “Zero Units”, Lakanwal previously served in.

The Kandahar Strike Force also known as “Zero Units” was composed of Afghan nationals under the command of the Afghanistan National Directorate of Security which was an intelligence agency established by the CIA.

The New York Times reported the zero units were trained and equipped directly under the CIA and were trained to conduct clandestine missions across Afghanistan.

Per CBS:

An image of an ID badge circulating widely online Thursday that purportedly shows the suspect in the shooting of the National Guard members says he was assigned to the “Kandahar Strike Force” or “03” unit, one of a number of so-called “Zero Units” that worked closely with U.S. and other foreign forces during the war in Afghanistan.

The badge also carries the words “Firebase Gecko,” which was the name of a base used by the CIA and special forces in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, inside what was previously the compound of the Taliban’s founding leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. CBS News has not independently verified the authenticity of the ID badge shown in the photos, but CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the suspect had previously worked “with the U.S. Government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar.”

The “Zero Units” were exclusively composed of Afghan nationals and operated under the umbrella of the National Directorate of Security, or NDS, the intelligence agency established with CIA backing for Afghanistan’s previous, U.S.-backed government.

A former senior Afghan general under that previous government told CBS News on Thursday that “03 unit, also known as The Kandahar Strike Force (KSF), was under special forces directorate of NDS. They were the most active and professional forces, trained and equipped by the CIA. All their operations were conducted under the CIA command.”

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National Guard Shooting Suspect Came From Afghanistan Through Biden Program

Two National Guardsmen were shot and critically injured in Washington, D.C., when a suspect, identified as an Afghan national let in through a Biden-era program allegedly ambushed them Wednesday.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported the suspect in custody “is an Afghan national who entered the U.S. on 9/8/2021 as part of the Biden admin’s Operation Allies Welcome in the aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

Melugin reported that the suspect’s “permission to be in the U.S. expired in September of this year, and he is now in the country illegally.”

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general released a report in 2022 finding the agency did not properly “screen, vet, and inspect all Afghan evacuees arriving as part of Operation Allies Refuge (OAR)/Operation Allies Welcome (OAW).”

After the disastrous and deadly Afghanistan withdrawal, the Biden administration decided to import thousands of incompatible foreigners into the country. As The Federalist CEO and co-founder Sean Davis wrote for The American Mind, “The solution for failing to export American democracy to Afghanistan, you see, is to import Afghanistan into America.”

Davis pointed out the “moral blackmail” taking place at the time: “Are you concerned that people posing as refugees might be terrorists intent on killing Americans on U.S. soil? You’re a racist. Are you worried that the same government and immigration system that allowed the 19 9/11 hijackers entry to the U.S. might not be competent to judge who is and who is not a security threat? You’re a xenophobe.”

And Davis’ concerns were later proved valid, as the DHS inspector general report found that “U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not always have critical data to properly screen, vet, or inspect the evacuees.”

“We determined some information used to vet evacuees through U.S. Government databases, such as name, date of birth, identification number, and travel document data, was inaccurate, incomplete, or missing. We also determined CBP admitted or paroled evacuees who were not fully vetted into the United States.”

The report concedes the government may have “paroled individuals into the United States who pose a risk to national security and the safety of local communities.”

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Afghan National Who Ambushed Two National Guard Members Reportedly Worked with US Government Agencies Including CIA

More shocking details have emerged about the Afghan national who ambushed and shot two U.S. National Guard soldiers just steps away from the White House on Wednesday, thanks to the catastrophic security failure and a possible terrorist attack enabled by the Biden regime’s reckless immigration policies.

Multiple federal law enforcement sources have confirmed to Fox News that the suspect, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, entered the United States on September 8, 2021, under Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome, following the disastrous and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem released a statement slamming the Biden regime’s open border policies:

“The suspect who shot our brave National Guardsmen is an Afghan national who was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden Administration.

I will not utter this depraved individual’s name. He should be starved of the glory he so desperately wants.

These men and women of the National Guard are mothers, fathers, sisters, daughters, children of God, carrying out the same basic public safety and immigration laws enshrined in law for decades.

Those politicians and media who continue to vilify our men and women in uniform need to take a long hard look in the mirror.

Bryon and I will be praying hard for these two National Guardsmen, their families, and every American who puts on uniform to defend our freedom.”

This is the exact scenario many warned about during the disastrous 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal: unchecked entry of potentially dangerous individuals under expedited clearance.

Rather than protecting U.S. troops and citizens, the Biden regime brought them here.

Lakanwal reportedly remained in the U.S. without legal status for nearly two months beyond his 2025 expiration.

Fox News Digital now reports that Lakanwal previously worked with multiple U.S. government entities, including the CIA, as part of a “partner force” in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

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Chicago Mayor Claims Crime Fell “Because of Him” as Texas National Guard Prepares to Leave

Chicago’s crime crisis did not disappear overnight, but you wouldn’t know that from listening to Chicago’s Democrat mayor.

This week, Mayor Brandon Johnson stood at a press conference and claimed that crime fell “because of him,” while attacking the Texas National Guard and President Trump for “wasting taxpayer dollars.”

The performance would have been comical if the stakes were not so serious.

Just hours before the event, at 11:00 p.m., an unknown individual attempted to start a fire outside City Hall.

Security footage shows the suspect lighting the exterior of the building before fleeing.

A CPD officer put out the flames before they spread. Instead of focusing on the conditions that allow attempted arson outside the city’s central government building, the mayor pivoted to politics.

He called the National Guard withdrawal an “unconditional surrender by the Trump administration,” as if the presence of Texas troops—not Chicago’s own governance—were the reason the city remains unsafe.

According to the mayor, Guard troops “sat idle for six weeks doing nothing,” a claim that conveniently ignores why Texas deployed them in the first place: to support overwhelmed border states and help cities impacted by the migrant influx created by Democrat sanctuary policies.

Chicago asked for migrants, boasted about being a sanctuary city, and then attacked Texas when the consequences arrived.

The mayor also complained that these deployments cost “hundreds of millions of dollars,” even though his own administration spends billions on bureaucracy and programs that have failed to reduce violence.

He criticized federal spending on Argentina while ignoring the billions Chicago spends without improving basic services.

Meanwhile, the attempted arson outside City Hall demonstrates exactly why a heightened security presence has been necessary.

He then targeted CPB official Greg Bovino, whom he claimed “left a trail of tears” and “undermined” the city’s work, even though federal officers arrived in September, and yet the mayor took credit for crime reductions from the summer months.

His argument was so weak that he joked Trump must think “September counts as a summer month.”

What he did not explain is how a city with increasing violence, collapsing public schools, and overflowing migrant shelters can possibly credit its problems to Texas or Trump.

The mayor framed the withdrawal as a victory against “unconstitutional federal overreach” and claimed Trump is waging a “war on poor and working people.”

But under Democrat leadership, Chicago remains one of the most dangerous cities in America, with residents fleeing, businesses closing, and families begging for basic safety.

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JUST IN: Judge Immergut Permanently Blocks Trump From Deploying National Guard Troops to Portland

Judge Karin Immergut issued a permanent injunction blocking President Trump from deploying National Guard troops to Oregon.

Last month a federal appeals court temporarily blocked President Trump from deploying Oregon National Guard troops to Portland after a judge issued a Temporary Retraining Order (TRO).

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily reinstated Judge Karin Immergut’s TRO last month after it halted an order issued by a three-judge panel from the court.

President Trump previously called up hundreds of California National Guard Troops to Portland to circumvent the judge’s order blocking Oregon National Guard Troop deployment.

Trump also activated up to 400 Texas National Guard troops for deployment to Oregon, Illinois and other states amid violent, anti-ICE protests.

On Friday evening, Immergut issued a permanent injunction and blocked Trump from deploying troops to Portland.

Trump can appeal Immergut’s ruling.

NBC News reported:

A federal judge in Oregon on Friday issued a permanent injunction barring the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard on the streets of Portland in response to protests against the president’s immigration policies.

“This Court arrives at the necessary conclusion that there was neither ‘a rebellion or danger of a rebellion’ nor was the President ‘unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States’ in Oregon when he ordered the federalization and deployment of the National Guard,” U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in his first term, wrote in her ruling.

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Federal Judge Extends Order Preventing Trump From Deploying National Guard to Portland

A federal judge on Nov. 2 extended an order preventing President Donald Trump from deploying any National Guard troops to deal with violence directed against federal immigration facilities in Portland, Oregon.

Trump had said in a Sept. 27 post on Truth Social that he was sending troops “to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued the new order two days after concluding a three-day trial on the issue of troop deployment on Oct. 31.

In the new order, Immergut extended her prior order blocking the federal government from deploying members of the Oregon, California, and Texas National Guard in Portland.

The plaintiffs—the states of Oregon and California and the city of Portland—are entitled to a preliminary injunction halting troop movements based on “their claims that Defendants’ federalization and deployment of the National Guard violates 10 U.S.C. [Section 12406] and the Tenth Amendment,” the judge said.

Under Title 10, Section 12406 of the U.S. Code, a president may take over, or federalize, National Guard troops on an emergency basis in certain circumstances.

The court specifically blocked Secretary of War Pete Hegseth from implementing a series of memorandums federalizing and deploying members of the Oregon, Texas, and California National Guard, as well as “any memoranda deploying members of any other State’s National Guard to Oregon based on the same predicate conditions that were relied upon to authorize the above orders.”

The president’s use of Section 12406 “was likely not made ‘in the face of the emergency and directly related to the quelling of the disorder or the prevention of its continuance,’” the judge said, citing a Supreme Court precedent.

“Critically, the credible evidence at trial established that following a few days in June, which involved the high watermark of violence and unlawful activity outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, Oregon, the protests outside the ICE facility between June 15 and September 27, 2025, were generally uneventful with occasional interference to federal personnel and property,” she said.

When there were occasional cases of lawbreaking, federal and local law enforcement were able to arrest and prosecute suspects, she said.

The court found no credible evidence that in the two months leading up to federalization that “protests grew out of control or involved more than isolated and sporadic instances of violent conduct.”

The violence that did take place in that time period was mostly between protesters and counter-protesters, the judge added.

Immergut said she will release a final opinion on the merits of the case by 5 p.m. on Nov. 7.

The case is also pending on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

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Trump’s National Guard Plan Edges the U.S. Closer to a Permanent Federal Police Force

The Pentagon is directing every state and U.S. territory to create “quick reaction forces” within their National Guards, which will be trained to respond to civil disturbances and emergencies, according to a recently leaked memo obtained by The Guardian. 

The memo instructs the National Guard Bureau to train these forces in riot control tactics, rapid deployment procedures, and the use of nonlethal weapons. The federalized forces will complement the National Guard Reaction Forces, which have existed for decades to provide emergency relief, reports The Washington Post. 

Most states and territories (excluding Washington, D.C.) will supply 500 National Guard members. These units are expected to fully mobilize within 24 hours of activation, with an initial contingent of roughly 200 troops that will be pulled from the guard’s unit that specializes in chemical and nuclear disaster response, ready by New Year’s Day. By April, the new quick reaction force will reach 23,500 soldiers strong, according to the Post. 

These new forces could signal the Trump administration’s readiness to expand federal control over local policing, with one anonymous Pentagon official telling the Post that the administration is “revising plans for the employment of [National Guard Reaction Forces] to guarantee their ability to assist federal, state and local law enforcement in quelling civil disturbances.”

Critics see the move as establishing a permanent, federally coordinated crowd-control infrastructure. Janessa Goldbeck, a Marine veteran and CEO of Vet Voice Foundation, told The Guardian that the memo represents “an attempt by the president to normalize a national, militarized police force.”

It’s unclear whether the new order—or any future deployments under it—would pass legal muster. Federal law generally prohibits the use of federal troops in civilian law enforcement, while the Insurrection Act allows exceptions only under narrow circumstances.

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Ninth Circuit Hands President Trump Sweeping Win Over Gavin Newsom — Trump Can Federalize California National Guard to Enforce Federal Immigration Law

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied en banc rehearing in Newsom v. Trump, effectively upholding the earlier panel decision that sided with Trump and affirmed his authority to federalize the California National Guard to support federal immigration enforcement.

When California officials refused to cooperate with federal agents, Trump invoked § 12406(3), federalizing and deploying 4,000 members of the California National Guard to Los Angeles to secure ICE facilities and restore order.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and the State of California sued over President Trump’s order, claiming it was unconstitutional and violated state sovereignty.

Newsom wrote at the time:

“We are suing Donald Trump. This is a manufactured crisis. He is creating fear and terror to take over a state militia and violate the U.S. constitution. The illegal order he signed could allow him to send the military into ANY STATE HE WISHES. Every governor — red or blue — should reject this outrageous overreach. There’s a lot of hyperbole out there. This isn’t that. This is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism that threatens the foundation of our republic. We cannot let it stand.”

US District Judge Charles Breyer (brother of retired SCOTUS Breyer), a Clinton appointee, granted Newsom a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and said Trump’s decision to federalize the National Guard was illegal.

But the appellate panel ruled that the statute clearly empowers the President to act whenever he is “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”

In practical terms, this means the Commander-in-Chief may call Guard troops into federal service when local or federal law-enforcement personnel cannot safely or effectively enforce the law.

After Senior Judge Marsha S. Berzon, joined by several liberal colleagues, requested a full-court rehearing, a vote of active Ninth Circuit judges failed to secure a majority, and rehearing en banc was denied on Wednesday. That denial makes the earlier Trump victory final within the circuit and binding precedent across nine Western states.

Judge Marsha Berzon’s 38-page dissent argued that the ruling “invited presidents, now and in the future, to deploy military troops… in response to commonplace, short-lived, domestic disturbances.”

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