New White House plan prioritizes dismantling hemispheric terror threats, combating violent domestic groups, and intensifying pressure on Iran-linked and international extremist operations
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has signed a new national counterterrorism strategy focused in part on the “neutralization” of hemispheric threats and the dismantling of cartel operations, senior White House adviser Sebastian Gorka said Wednesday.
Gorka told reporters that Trump signed the document on Tuesday, describing it as being “driven by the principle that America is our homeland and must be protected.”
The United States has destroyed dozens of vessels as part of what Washington describes as a counternarcotics campaign tied to an operation that included the removal of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro earlier this year.
“Our new counterterrorism strategy first prioritizes the neutralization of hemispheric terror threats by incapacitating cartel operations until these groups are incapable of bringing their drugs, their members and their trafficked victims into the United States,” Gorka said.
Within the United States, Gorka said the strategy will also prioritize identifying and neutralizing what he described as “violent, secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically transgender or anarchist, such as Antifa.”
“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,” he said.
Gorka added that U.S. counterterrorism officials are scheduled to meet with international partners on Friday to discuss increasing joint efforts against terrorist threats, particularly those connected to Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
Following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September, White House aides called for a coordinated response against unnamed left-wing groups accused of promoting violence.
Gorka said the strategy would also target right-wing groups involved in inciting violence.
He added that the plan places continued pressure on what he described as the global jihadi movement, including the “targeting and destruction” of organizations such as al-Qaeda.
