Federal officials are re-checking a classified terrorism watchlist after recent arrests of three Afghan migrants, the New York Post reported — and said only one of the three was on the list.

National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent told House lawmakers on Dec. 11 that his agency had identified “around 18,000 known and suspected terrorists” who entered the United States over a four-year period, according to the Post.

We reached out to the National Counterterrorism Center and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Why It Matters

The report spotlights how the U.S. government vets people entering the country and how terrorism identity data is used for screening and referrals to law enforcement, as described in the National Counterterrorism Center’s TIDE fact sheet.

It also underscores a basic limitation: being included in an identity database does not, by itself, establish criminal guilt, and being absent from a list does not necessarily establish that authorities had “no concern,” depending on what information existed at the time.

What To Know

An intelligence source told the Post that Jaan Shah Safi was the only one of three Afghan suspects referenced in the paper’s recent reporting who appeared on the watchlist discussed after Kent’s Dec. 11 testimony.

The Post reported that Safi entered the United States in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome and was later arrested in Virginia in a case in which DHS alleged ties to ISIS-K and related support activity, according to a separate New York Post report on Safi.

Two other cases cited in the Post reporting involved suspects described as not being on the same list, including Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who is accused of ambushing two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., and Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, who faces charges tied to an alleged threat discussed in a group chat.

Governing authorities and definitions

The Intelligence Community maintains a terrorism identity database called the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, which the National Counterterrorism Center describes as the U.S. government’s central repository of identities connected to international terrorism, according to the TIDE fact sheet.

That document says TIDE supports screening by supplying identifiers to the FBI-led Terrorist Screening Center for inclusion in the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) — commonly referred to as “the Watchlist” — which then feeds downstream screening systems used across travel and immigration processes.

The same fact sheet says a person cannot be watchlisted based solely upon First Amendment-protected activity, and that federal agencies nominate individuals based on evaluations of intelligence and law enforcement terrorism information.

Explicit caveat (what the documents and reporting do not establish)

The Post reporting and the TIDE fact sheet do not, on their own, establish when any specific person was added to or removed from any terrorism screening list, what underlying intelligence supported any record, or whether a person’s absence from a given list indicates there was no threat information available at the time.

Being included in an identity repository or watchlist is not itself a criminal charge, and the fact sheet describes screening and referral functions rather than a judicial determination.

What People Are Saying

Joe Kent said at the Dec. 11 hearing that his agency had identified “around 18,000 known and suspected terrorists” who entered the United States over a four-year period, according to the New York Post’s account of the hearing.

An ODNI official told the Post that “NCTC sent intelligence about Jaan Shah Saffi over to DHS/ICE and will continue to flag individuals with known or suspected terrorist ties to law enforcement agencies,” according to the New York Post report.

The same official told the Post that “other Afghans … are radicalized here in the U.S.,” as cited by the New York Post.

Sen. Rand Paul told the Post he supported “more scrutiny” on evacuees from the period described in the report, according to the New York Post.

What Happens Next

The Post reported that U.S. officials are reviewing the list and analyzing recent cases to identify potential threats, according to the New York Post’s reporting.

Separately, the TIDE fact sheet notes that travelers who believe they were misidentified can seek resolution through the Department of Homeland Security’s Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP).