Trump Administration Expands Counterterrorism Strategy to Include Cartels and Left-Wing Extremists

The Trump administration released a new counterterrorism strategy Wednesday that expands U.S. national security policy to cover drug cartels and domestic extremist groups along with traditional jihadist threats. The 16-page document could broaden the use of counterterrorism tools at home and abroad.

It identifies three main terrorist threats: narcoterrorists and transnational gangs, legacy Islamist terrorists, and violent left-wing extremists including anarchists and anti-fascists. This marks a departure from post-9/11 approaches focused mainly on groups like ISIS and al Qaeda.

The strategy outlines a three-part plan: identify terrorist actors and plots before they happen, cut off funding and recruitment, and dismantle networks. This approach points to wider use of intelligence, financial and military tools against various threats.

The document widens the terrorism definition in ways that could extend national security powers beyond jihadist groups. That opens the way for more military, intelligence and law enforcement action against cartels and actors inside the United States.

It also criticizes the intelligence community for being stuck in old threat views and sometimes weaponized for politics. The language supports the administration's effort to change counterterrorism priorities.

The strategy includes domestic extremist violence, especially from left-wing movements, as officials describe it. This puts more focus on spotting and breaking up networks in the United States.

White House counterterrorism chief Sebastian Gorka said the administration targets politically motivated violence at home and will use all constitutional tools to identify and disrupt extremists.

He cited recent attacks, including the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. "If you look at the Tyler Robinson, as you mentioned, the murder of the assassin, of Charlie Kirk. If you look at Robert Westman, the murderer of the little children of the Annunciation Catholic School last year, we see an ideology that, ostensibly, began by preaching tolerance, being used by specific actors to wage violence against the most innocent, little children at Catholic schools at churches. This is a threat we will take very seriously."

"Whether you are right wing inspired or left being inspired, the point at which you advocate for violence or use violence yourself, for political purposes, means you are actually undertaking terrorism," Gorka added.

The strategy calls for mapping and disrupting violent left-wing extremists with law enforcement powers. That could increase federal use of counterterrorism tools in domestic cases.

It raises drug cartels to a key national security threat, placing them next to jihadist groups. This blurs lines between criminal organizations and terrorist actors.

Gorka called cartel violence a direct threat to the United States. He said more Americans died from drugs smuggled by cartels in one year than U.S. combat fatalities over 70 years. "They declared war on us. We are responding."

The strategy follows steps like designating major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and military action against smuggling. Recent operations hit suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific to fight narcoterrorism.

"If we know where you are, if you killed Americans, if you're plotting to kill Americans, within 72 hours, we can kill you, we can arrest you or we can kill you," Gorka said.

The strategy puts Iran at the heart of global terrorism as the top state-backed threat. "The greatest threat to the United States emanating from the Middle East comes specifically from Iran," the document states. It cites Tehran's military power and support for groups like Hezbollah.

Gorka agreed. "Nine out of ten times, you scratch the surface of that threat, and three nanometers later, you find Iran,"

The plan calls for ongoing military, intelligence and covert operations against Iran and its proxies until Tehran no longer threatens the United States. It pushes more aggressive use of tools and greater ally responsibility in shared fights.