McCaul Expands Afghanistan Investigation with Transcribed Interview Requests for 34 Biden Administration Officials
Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul is expanding his ongoing investigation into the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan by requesting transcribed interviews from 34 officials within the administration. The request comes after months of delayed and often incomplete responses to previous letters on the issue – including one from August 20, 2021 – as well as multiple public and private briefings by State Department officials that have provided few answers.
“In addition, because recent briefings by State Department officials have been cursory exercises that mystify as much as they illuminate, with relevant actors often declining to answer questions directly, deferring to other colleagues or agencies, or claiming not to have relevant information at their immediate disposal and then offering to ‘follow up’ with answers that never seem to arrive, we request the individuals listed below appear for transcribed interviews conducted by committee staff.”
The full text of the letter can be found here and below.
Dear Secretary Blinken,
It has been over two months since the Biden Administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of 13 Americans, and there are still many unanswered questions about the planning – or lack thereof – that preceded the drawdown and evacuation. In an effort to bring accountability and transparency to a situation that, thus far, has involved neither, and in furtherance of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s oversight responsibilities, we are writing to follow up on our document requests submitted to the Department on August 20.1 Pursuant to House Rule X, § 723, we request responsive materials at the earliest possible juncture.2
In addition, because recent briefings by State Department officials have been cursory exercises that mystify as much as they illuminate, with relevant actors often declining to answer questions directly, deferring to other colleagues or agencies, or claiming not to have relevant information at their immediate disposal and then offering to “follow up” with answers that never seem to arrive, we request the individuals listed below appear for transcribed interviews conducted by committee staff.
The purpose of the transcribed interviews is to establish a more detailed record regarding topics such as: the number of American Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents who still reside in Afghanistan (in public media accounts, the Department’s own employees have recently called the magic number 100, which was repeated by senior Department officials for over a month, “absurd,”3 and now the number has been confirmed to be significantly larger but is still unclear4); the mechanism(s) for continued evacuations; any agreements reached with the Taliban and third countries; counterterrorism (CT) and over-the-horizon (OTH) capabilities and realities; processing Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applications and P1/P2 refugee referrals; the operations and decisions of various bureaus from April 2021 (when President Biden made his withdrawal announcement) through August 2021 (when Kabul fell); the internal deliberations of the Afghanistan Task Force, SIV Task Force, CARE Task Force, and other task forces and decision to wait to convene some of these until late July, August, and even October; the Administration’s foreign assistance policy in Afghanistan moving forward; the Department’s coordination and disconnects with the Department of Defense and USAID; Embassy Kabul’s Emergency Action Plan (EAP), decision to destroy sensitive documents like visa applications and passports, and calling on DoD to move arms stored at the embassy; the timing of the NEO decision; the Department’s approvals and blocking of private charter flights, and role in vetting of the same; the Department’s current Afghanistan-focused operations in Doha; operations at and future plans for DoD “lilypads;” potential reimbursements to private charter groups that have supplied food and safe houses to at-risk Afghans; the Department’s failure to answer congressional offices and assist with constituent emergencies in Afghanistan; and others.
The officials we request appear for transcribed interviews are the following:
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Suzy George, Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State
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Brian McKeon, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources
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Carol Perez, Acting Under Secretary of State for Management
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Laura Dogu, CONUS Coordinator
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John Bass, former Ambassador to Afghanistan and State Department lead of evacuation efforts at Hamid Karzai International Airport
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Scott Weinhold, Assistant Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Kabul
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Ross Wilson, Chargé d’Affaires, U.S. Embassy Kabul
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James Morris, Department approver of flight manifests
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Rena Bitter, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Consular Affairs
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Ian Brownlee, former Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Consular Affairs
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Ian Hillman, Senior Advisor, Visa Office, Consular Affairs
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Nancy Izzo Jackson, Senior Bureau Official, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
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Larry Bartlett, Director of Admissions, Population, Refugees and Migration
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Dean Thompson, head of Department’s Afghanistan Task Force and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
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Mark Evans, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
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Todd Brown, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Diplomatic Security
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Greg Sherman, Deputy Assistant Secretary and Assistant Director of High Threat Programs Directorate, Bureau of Diplomatic Security
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Kevin O’Keefe, Director, Office of Security Assistance, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
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Tracey Jacobson, Operation Allies Welcome State Department Liaison
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Beth Jones, Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Effort
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Virginia Palmer, CARE Task Force Lead for Third Country Operations
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Shannon Farrell, CARE Task Force Lead for CONUS Operations
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Karen Decker, CARE Task Force Lead for American Inbound Flight Manifests
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Evyenia Sidereas, Director, Arabian Peninsula, Bureau of Near East Asian Affairs
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Brett Holmgren, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Intelligence and Research
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Salman Ahmed, Director, Policy Planning Staff
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Maureen Cormack, Dean of Foreign Service Institute
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Dafna Rand, Director of the Office of Foreign Assistance
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Richard Visek, Acting Legal Adviser
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Karen Freeman, Acting USAID Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Asia
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Mark Walther, USAID Director of Acquisition and Assistance
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Sarah Charles, Assistant Administrator, Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance
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Karen Freeman, Acting USAID Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Asia
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Tina Dooley-Jones, USAID Mission Director Afghanistan
Please direct the above officials to schedule their interviews as soon as possible. Your refusal to provide the requested documents and interviews would not only prevent the Committee from fully investigating the matters outlined above but also impede Congress’ ability to fulfill its Constitutional responsibilities to protect our national security.
If you have any questions, please contact staff for the Committee on Foreign Affairs at (202) 226-8467.
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