The Afghan immigrant suspected of carrying out a terror ambush on two National Guards members in Washington, D.C. Wednesday “should never have been allowed to come here,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29 – accused of shooting West Virginia National Guard members Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe – was let into the country in 2021 under the Biden-Era Operation Allies Welcome. He applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved in April.

Ratcliffe confirmed Lakanwal worked with the CIA, though his office didn’t offer more details on his vetting or his duties.  #AfghanEvac, a group of US military veterans who worked to get allies out safely from Afghanistan, said the suspected gunman previously served in NDS-03, one of Afghanistan’s elite counterterrorism units operated by the CIA with direct U.S. intelligence and military support.

Ratcliffe blasted the Biden administration’s “catastrophic failures” that he claimed allowed the accused gunman into the US.

“In the wake of the disastrous Biden Withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden Administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. Government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation,” Ratcliffe said.

“This individual — and so many others — should have never been allowed to come here,” the CIA head continued. “Our citizens and servicemembers deserve far better than to endure the ongoing fallout from the Biden Administration’s catastrophic failures. God bless our brave troops.”

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that it would be halting processing Afghan immigration applications for the time being.

“This Afghan national was paroled in by the Biden Administration,” DHS said in a statement. “Regardless if his asylum was granted or not, this monster would not have been removed because of his parole.”

“Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” the statement continued. “The Trump Administration is also reviewing all asylum cases approved under the Biden Administration, which failed to vet these applicants on a massive scale.”

Lakanwal, a married father of at least five children, according to his landlord, was relocated to Bellingham, Washington, under the program.

He’s suspected of staging an ambush around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday just blocks away from the White House near the Farragut West Metro Station.

Wolfe, 24, and Beckstrom, 20 had been patrolling at the time when Lakanwal, armed with a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver, allegedly opened fire, shooting Beckstrom in the head and chest.

A third guardsman rushed to the scene and took Lakanwal down. Lakanwal was also left with gunshot wounds in the melee.

Both Beckstrom and Wolfe were taken to the hospital and are in critical condition.

Beckstrom’s father, Gary, told the New York Times he didn’t expect his daughter to survive the horrific ordeal.

“She has a mortal wound,” the dad said.

Authorities say that Lakanwal was acting alone and the incident is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.

Lakanwal was evacuated from Afghanistan by the US military in August 2021 in the wake of the fall of Kabul alongside tens of thousands of other Americans and immigrants seeking asylum, according to a report by #Afghan Evac.

While his asylum application was approved in April he hadn’t been granted lawful permanent residence — as applicants must wait a year after they’re granted asylum to apply for permanent residence, the non-profit group said.

Lakanwal’s asylum application would have had to have been reviewed and vetted by the CIA and the US Government — including for his risk level, the report says.