1 DEC 25 SITREP

1. The Washington DC Shooting of Sarah Beckstrom and Resulting National Security Response

• Sarah Beckstrom of the West Virginia National Guard was shot on the steps near the White House and later died from her wounds. The attacker, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, has since been charged with first degree murder.

• Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe was also hit during the same attack and remains in critical condition, a situation that immediately forced federal officials into emergency mode and sparked nationwide calls for tougher immigration controls.

• The timing of the attack, landing right before the Thanksgiving holiday, intensified public anger and shifted the tone of the national conversation from frustration to outright rejection of current border and vetting practices.

• Observers compared America’s restrained response to how other major powers would handle an attack on troops directly outside their own executive buildings, highlighting a growing concern that the United States is failing to assert basic security standards.

2. The Texas Plot to Bomb the Fort Worth Region and the Expansion of Federal Countermeasures

• The individual arrested for the Fort Worth bombing plot has been identified as Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, an Afghan national who entered the United States through Operation Allies Welcome and was admitted as a lawful permanent resident on September 7, 2022.

• He was taken into custody the day before the Washington DC shooting, creating the impression that unfolding threats were beginning to stack back to back.

• Investigators state he had begun assembling an explosive device aimed at civilian and infrastructure targets in the Fort Worth region, prompting an immediate surge in federal coordination.

• The back to back timing of the arrest and the Washington DC attack intensified concerns that screening and vetting procedures for recent arrivals have broken down, pushing lawmakers to demand tighter asylum rules, stronger fraud enforcement, and long term limits on high risk migration channels.

3. Brussels, Belgium Nativity Scene Beheading Incident at the Grand-Place

• In Brussels, the infant Jesus figure in the Grand-Place nativity display was found beheaded overnight, with the head stolen and the enclosure breached despite protective casing.

• The display had just opened for the winter festival and already faced criticism for replacing traditional nativity figures with faceless cloth versions that many felt stripped the scene of its Christian meaning.

• The vandalism deepened that controversy and immediately shifted the conversation from artistic debate to concerns about targeted cultural hostility in a high profile public square.

• Belgian authorities are reviewing footage, repairing the display, and reassessing holiday security around the Grand-Place while the investigation continues.

FINAL WORD

These three events—the killing of Sarah Beckstrom in Washington DC, the Fort Worth bombing plot, and the desecration of the nativity scene in Brussels—show how violent attacks, planned assaults, and cultural provocations are now overlapping instead of unfolding as isolated incidents. Together they reflect a wider climate of instability marked by weak security controls, rising public anger, and growing friction over national identity. As these pressures converge, governments are facing a strategic environment that demands clearer direction, stronger safeguards, and a willingness to confront problems that can no longer be treated as separate issues.