A young National Guard specialist was gunned down and another critically wounded in an ambush just blocks from the White House, a brazen attack that has shaken the country and raised painful questions about who we let into America. Authorities have identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, and the victims include Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, who died, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who remains in critical condition.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has publicly stated investigators believe Lakanwal was radicalized after arriving in the United States, a chilling conclusion that should make every American sit up and take notice. The idea that someone can come here and be turned toward violence while living among us is a failure we cannot afford to sweep under the rug.
The suspect entered the United States in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, the chaotic evacuation program run during the Biden years, and was later granted asylum in April 2025 after a long, convoluted process. That timeline matters: policies and decisions made at our border and in refugee resettlement programs have real-world consequences for the safety of American citizens and service members.
Local caseworker emails obtained by reporters paint a disturbing picture of a man who slipped into “periods of dark isolation,” stopped working, and became increasingly erratic long before the attack. Neighbors and advocates warned charities and refugee groups that he was not coping — warnings that apparently did not lead to the intervention necessary to prevent this tragedy.
Let’s be clear: this is not an attack on refugees or on Americans who wanted to help; it is a call to restore common-sense vetting and accountability. The fact that this man arrived during the Biden-era evacuation and later received asylum underlines a bipartisan failure of execution — an invitation to radicals and a risk to our troops that successive administrations have treated as an afterthought.
Patriots who put on the uniform deserve better than reactive politics and bureaucratic shrugging. Leaders like Secretary Noem are right to promise a full accounting and to pursue those who may have aided in radicalizing him, and Congress should move immediately to tighten resettlement oversight, mental-health follow-up and community reporting mechanisms so warning signs are acted on, not ignored.
We mourn Specialist Beckstrom and pray for Staff Sgt. Wolfe, and we owe it to their families and to every hardworking American to stop pretending that open-border experiments and soft vetting are cost-free. This country can be both compassionate and secure, but it begins with putting the safety of our citizens and service members first and holding policymakers accountable for the dangerous consequences of their choices.
