In March 2020, then-Acting Head of National Intelligence Richard Grenell replaced Travers as acting director of the NCTC to streamline an overloaded organization and eliminate ineffective people. According to the Washington Post, former officials described the action as a purge of professional specialists. Furthermore, Travers would sign a letter in October 2020 claiming that the publication of emails discovered on Hunter Biden’s laptop has all the markings of a Russian information operation. Travers was rehired as the National Security Council’s deputy homeland security advisor in January.
According to Politico reports, Travers was promoted to senior deputy homeland security advisor in June at the National Security Council. Travers boasted about the evacuation plan’s effectiveness during a news conference on July 29, 2021, and stated that he was thrilled to announce the arrival of their first group of special Afghan immigrants to the United States of America under Operation Allies Refuge. However, 65,000 or more Afghan SIV applicants attempt to flee Afghanistan for the United States of America or another nation.
Thousands of Afghans descended to Hamid Karzai International Airport last weekend in protest at the Biden administration’s inability to anticipate the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and military. Afghans clinging to an Air Force C-17 fell to their deaths to flee, while others were crushed on the runway. Additionally, there have been tales of desperate Afghan parents giving up their infants to US forces. On Sunday, it was reported that a two-year-old Afghan child was trampled to death. It’s a heartbreaking scene. Even Biden administration officials concede
Thousands of Afghans in the airport vicinity have also made it hard for Americans trapped in Afghanistan to go. Since August 14, the Pentagon reported that on Saturday, 17,000 individuals had been evacuated from Kabul. The Biden administration, according to sources, has stepped in its efforts to assist extra Afghans leaving the country.
Kash Patel, a former Grenell aide and former Pentagon chief of staff, explained that the men and women he served had done more to eradicate SIVs from the country than Russ Travers and the White House. In addition, Patel also highlighted that the SIV programs are the responsibility of the White House. He claims he replaced Travers with a professional officer determined to modernize the Counterterrorism Center. However, The White House has not responded to his comments.
