DHS report casts doubt on need for Trump travel ban

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report assessing the terrorist threat posed by the citizens of the seven countries covered by President Donald Trump's travel ban has expressed doubt on the necessity of the order.

The document, as reported by the Washington Post, was prepared at the request of the acting secretary for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis and does not represent the official position of the DHS.

The report said that citizenship is an 'unreliable' threat indicator and that people from the listed countries - Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Libya - have rarely been implicated in U.S.-based terrorism.

A Homeland Security spokesperson said that the report had "not been subject to the extensive interagency review process required of finished intelligence products and did not include data from other intelligence community sources."

Meanwhile, Trump has planned to re-write his executive order and the White House has said the new version is expected next week.