The White House released a sweeping new counterterrorism strategy that calls for “the rapid identification and neutralization” of violent extremist domestic political groups, especially those it describes as anti-American, anarchist, and radically pro-transgender.
The 2026 U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy identifies three categories of terror threats: narcoterrorists and transnational gangs, legacy Islamist terrorists, and "Violent Left-Wing Extremists, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists."
Critics have warned that the strategy uses politically charged language and gives little attention to far-right extremism, which terrorism analysts have identified as a significant domestic threat.
Reuters reported that Sebastian Gorka, the White House counterterrorism director, said the strategy would also address right-wing groups that foment violence. The document listed specific operational steps federal officials will take to target such groups domestically.
"We will use all the tools constitutionally available to us to map them at home, identify their membership, map their ties to international organizations like Antifa, and use law enforcement tools to cripple them operationally before they can maim or kill the innocent," the strategy said.
The White House said in a post on X, "This Administration will not allow violent lunatics motivated by anti-American, anarchist, or pro-transgender ideologies to murder innocent citizens, terrorize communities, burn down cities, or attack cops."
Correct. This Administration will not allow violent lunatics motivated by anti-American, anarchist, or pro-transgender ideologies to murder innocent citizens, terrorize communities, burn down cities, or attack cops. https://t.co/2OCZ6Jpvs9
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 12, 2026
The strategy alleges that violent left-wing extremists have carried out politically motivated killings of "Christians and conservatives," citing "the assassination of Charlie Kirk by a radical who espoused extreme transgender ideologies."
The strategy also frames its domestic focus as a corrective to what it calls abuses by the Biden administration.
"The fact pattern under the Biden Administration was clear: individuals at the highest level of the U.S. Government used their significant powers to politically target individuals in the interests of those they favored, wanted to keep in power, or to help win elections," the document said.
The strategy also pledges that counterterrorism powers "will not be used to target our fellow Americans who simply disagree with us" and says operations "will be executed apolitically and founded upon reality-based threat assessments."
President Donald Trump summarized the administration's posture in a foreword to the document.
"If you hurt Americans, or are planning to hurt Americans, 'We Will Find You and We Will Kill You,'" Trump wrote, saying he first used the phrase after a counterterrorism mission days after his January 2025 inauguration.
Beyond domestic threats, the document demonstrates the administration prioritizes targeting Islamist terrorist groups abroad, starting with al Qaeda — particularly its al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula subgroup — and ISIS. It also references Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury, which it said "dealt devastating blows" to Iran's nuclear and military capabilities.
The strategy designates illicit fentanyl and its precursor chemicals as weapons of mass destruction and directs counterterrorism resources accordingly.
The document states hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from fentanyl overdoses and that foreign terrorist organizations share the blame.
The document says, “We will hold accountable the FTOs, cartels, and their state sponsors for this WMD threat to our citizens.”