White House casts cartels, jihadists and left-wing extremists as ‘significant and pervasive’ threats to US

The White House on Wednesday released a wide-ranging counterterrorism strategy targeting narcoterrorists, Islamist terrorists and violent left-wing extremists.

The 16-page blueprint — the first issued since President Donald Trump’s return to office — describes the triad as “significant and pervasive” dangers to the homeland, to be addressed in phases.

During a conference call with reporters, Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s senior director for counterterrorism, declined to discuss classified details of the initiative but outlined its central objective as systemically eroding each group’s infrastructure. The plan includes identifying their networks; severing their access to weapons, financing and recruitment capabilities; and dismantling their operational capacity.

“We see a threat, we will respond to it, and we will crush it, whether it is the cartels, the jihadists, or violent left-wing extremists like antifa and like the transgender killers, the non-binary, the left-wing radicals,” he said. “We will take them on, head on.”

Gorka asserted that the administration sees a renewed wave of politically-motivated violence targeting Christians and conservatives, driven by what he characterized as “violent left-wing extremists” who have “espoused extremist transgender ideologies.” He cited the assassination of activist Charlie Kirk, as well as the mass shootings at Covenant School in Tennessee and Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota, as evidence of the trend.

The attackers in the latter two shootings, each of whom died at the scene, were transgender. The person charged with Kirk’s killing, Tyler Robinson, reportedly had a transgender partner. LGBTQ advocates, however, warn against collectivizing blame for such events to the trans community at large.

“We will not permit politically motivated violence in the United States from either side of the aisle,” Gorka said. “But the sad truth is, the left has far more politically motivated assassinations or attempted assassinations to its credit in recent years, not the right.”

A 2024 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that right-wing attacks had killed 112 people over the past decade, compared to 13 people killed in left-wing attacks and 82 killed in jihadist attacks.

The report predated the killing of Kirk, which occurred in September 2025, but also of Democratic State Rep. Melissa Hortman of Minnesota, who was shot dead at her home along with her husband Mark in June 2025.

The Trump framework marks a sharp departure from the Biden-era counterterrorism strategy, which classified white supremacists and militia movements among the most consequential threats to U.S. national security.

“Our new U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy is a return to common sense and Peace through Strength,” the president wrote in the document. “As I said after our first successful counterterrorism mission, just days after I was sworn back in office — if you hurt Americans, or are planning to hurt Americans, ‘We Will Find You and We Will Kill You.’”

U.S. counterterrorism officials are set to meet with foreign counterparts on Friday to urge allies to take on a greater share of responsibility in confronting terrorist threats, including those in the Strait of Hormuz.

“We reject the concept of global police officer,” Gorka said. “We will measure your seriousness as a partner and ally by how much you bring to the table.”