Conservatives have their reasons for tuning out of Fox News, but it's hard to deny that its White House reporters, Peter Doocy and Jacqui Heinrich, are two of the very few journalists out there who attempt to hold the Biden-Harris administration accountable for its misdeeds. They are not afraid to spar with White House officials, particularly when it comes to national security matters that are important to American citizens. 

Such is the case with the story of the Afghan migrant, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, who was recently arrested in Oklahoma for planning a terrorist attack on Election Day. Heinrich has been dogged in pursuing whether or not the man, who had done some low-level security work with the CIA in Afghanistan, was allowed into the country without being properly vetted. She sparred over the matter with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas just last week, with Mayorkas rather rudely deflecting the questions she put to him.

Heinrich had particular questions about whether or not the wannabe terrorist has entered the country, as the Biden-Harris administration claimed, under a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV). As RedState previously reported, "At issue was why Mayorkas' own DHS was saying the terrorist came in on a SIV while the State Department says that's not the case."

Guess what? Per Heinrich, the administration lied:

NEWS: The Biden-Harris administration now admits that an Afghan national accused of plotting an election day terror attack did not undergo certain vetting they previously claimed he passed. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi was never vetted or approved by the State Department for special immigrant (SIV) status, despite officials from other agencies claiming that he cleared that stringent process. 

That's not all, as Heinrich noted, adding, "Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi was not well known to the US government when the administration facilitated his departure to the U.S., despite his security role with the CIA in Afghanistan."

NEWS: The Biden-Harris administration now admits that an Afghan national accused of plotting an election day terror attack did not undergo certain vetting they previously claimed he passed. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi was never vetted or approved by the State Department for special…

— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) October 16, 2024

The story is deeply troubling for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it confirms the worst suspicions of Americans that the Biden-Harris administration is incompetent at best and malicious at worst. They think they can just lie about important security matters like a planned terrorist attack on U.S. soil by a dangerous man they should have never let into the country, then have it all swept under the rug by its media mouthpieces. And that's basically what has happened, with Jacqui Heinrich being the sole journalist actually trying to hold the administration accountable for such an obvious failure in national security measures. Measures, it should be added, designed to keep American citizens safe.

The big question, of course, is how many Nasir Ahmad Tawhedis are in the United States right now, unvetted and under the radar, who are planning similar attacks? There's clearly no way of knowing, considering the Biden-Harris administration's continued bungling of border security matters. As one observer on X responded, "We’re only skating by on luck and the grace of God at this point. This is madness."

If you don't feel like clicking through to X to read Jacqui Heinrich's post, here it is in its entirety:

NEWS: The Biden-Harris administration now admits that an Afghan national accused of plotting an election day terror attack did not undergo certain vetting they previously claimed he passed. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi was never vetted or approved by the State Department for special immigrant (SIV) status, despite officials from other agencies claiming that he cleared that stringent process. 

Additionally, sources familiar with the investigation tell FOX that Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi was not well known to the US government when the administration facilitated his departure to the U.S., despite his security role with the CIA in Afghanistan. FOX has learned Tawhedi was employed as a local guard outside the base perimeter and he would not have been among the most thoroughly vetted U.S. partners.

The news upends claims officials made last week that Tawhedi was vetted three times: 1) to work for the CIA in Afghanistan 2) to come to the U.S. on DHS humanitarian parole during the withdrawal, and 3) when he was approved for special immigrant (SIV) status after arriving in the U.S.

Officials now acknowledge Tawhedi was never vetted or approved for special immigrant (SIV) status, a thorough State Department process which can take years to complete. The State Department has maintained all along it had no role in Tawhedi’s refugee status, despite what a DHS case agent told investigators -- leading to its inaccurate mention in the DOJ criminal complaint.

Last week Biden administration officials defended the error, explaining that Tawhedi first entered the country on DHS humanitarian parole – which had its own vetting process – but later applied for SIV status, subjecting him to another round of vetting which he also cleared. Those same officials now admit that claim was wrong, and Tawhedi was never vetted or approved for SIV.

However, officials now say Tawhedi was subjected to ‘recurrent’ vetting as part of his DHS humanitarian parole under Operation Allies Welcome – but this raises new questions.

DHS has repeatedly stated that no red flags were identified at any point in Tawhedi’s vetting, but three sources forcefully disputed DHS’ characterization of the vetting process as “thorough”.

According to a 2022 DHS Inspector General Report, DHS did not provide data or evidence to support its claim that “recurrent vetting processes were established for all paroled Afghan evacuees for the duration of their parole period”.

The report also stated that DHS admitted or paroled evacuees who were not fully vetted into the United States, in many cases because 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.

The 2022 DHS OIG audit revealed 417 records with a first name unknown, 242 records with a last name unknown, and 11,110 records with a birth date recorded as “January 1.”  Additionally, 36,400 travel records listed “facilitation document” as the document type, and 7,800 records had invalid or missing document numbers. CBP did not maintain a list of individuals paroled or admitted into the country without proper identification.

Recurrent vetting was initiated by CBP for Operation Allies Welcome parolees prior to their arrival in the United States. CBP shared biographical information collected during the initial screening and vetting process with the National Vetting Center (NVC) and designated Vetting Support Agencies (VSAs) -- external to DHS --  for recurrent vetting against classified information in NVC and VSA data holdings.

DHS stated in the 2024 final report that “the National Vetting Center recurrent vetting is ongoing and active for all OAW parolees”, but the agency has also tells FOX, “Vetting is a point-in-time check that evaluates information available to the U.S. Government at that time.”

DHS says “If individuals who have entered the country are later found to be associated with information indicating a potential national security or public safety concern, DHS and our federal partners investigate and take appropriate action in keeping with the mission of protecting the homeland.”

Investigators are still working to determine whether Tawhedi was radicalized before or after coming to the U.S.