WASHINGTON.–The Trump administration redistributes the scarce federal funds for the fight against drug cartels (“narcoterrorists”), the Venezuelan state (“a foreign terrorist organization”), and left-wing groups like Antifa (a “violent fifth column of domestic terrorists”). In addition to the obvious legality concerns, these measures also raise concerns serious doubts about management priorities and resource allocation.
Drug cartels may be evil, but ultimately Their motivation is profit and not a murderous ideology like that Islamic State (EGG). Antifa is a loosely knit group of activists that has committed isolated acts of violence but does not plan mass attacks like al-Qaeda. The Venezuelan regime is involved in human rights abuses and drug trafficking, but it is not a state sponsor of terrorism like, for example, Iran..
As the government focuses on pseudo-terrorists, it risks losing sight of the fight against real terrorists shameless Just a week ago, a father-son team of ISIS-inspired terrorists killed 15 people during a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney, shortly after an ISIS fighter in Syria killed two US soldiers and an American civilian (on Friday, US forces bombed dozens of locations in Syria in retaliation).
Other recent terrorist attacks by Islamic State supporters include the truck attack on January 1st in New Orleans, in which 14 people were killed in addition to the perpetrator; an attack on a synagogue in England on October 2 that left two people dead, including a man who was shot by police; a June 22 suicide bombing at a Greek Orthodox church in Syria that killed 25 people; and an attack on a concert hall in Moscow on March 22, 2024, which killed more than 140 people. Many other plans have been foiled, including one from last year Attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna and recently a suspected run-over with a vehicle in Germany.
Although the Islamic State has lost its caliphate in Syria and Iraq, the organization continues to spread jihadist ideology, mainly online, and the recent war between Israel and Gaza has attracted new members to its cause. It has subsidiaries from Afghanistan to Africa to the Philippines (where the Bondi Beach suspects traveled last month). Al-Qaeda also has affiliates around the worldincluding one who is about to take power in Mali.
This was what a US intelligence report warned in March Islamic State “will continue to attempt to attack the West, including the United States.”And Al-Qaeda “also maintains its intent to attack the United States and its citizens.”. Two terrorism experts point out that there are now “five times as many Salafist-jihadist terrorist groups designated by the US State Department” as there were on September 11, 2001.
Countering jihadist groups requires a comprehensive long-term strategy; a few US airstrikes, like those in Syria on Friday, won’t make much difference. However, many government actions undermine attempts to combat these terrorist groups.
First of all, this Department of Homeland Security and FBI resources were redirected to immigration enforcementMoving away from terrorism and other concerns. Nearly a quarter of all FBI agents work on immigration casesalthough the majority of deportees have no criminal record.
Secondly, the The State Department has closed offices dedicated to combating online disinformation, and the Trump administration is pressuring social networks to limit their content moderation efforts. The government has even threatened to deny visas to foreign workers involved in content moderation and is pushing the European Union (EU) to relax its digital security standards.
This is presented as a fight against “censorship” and is primarily motivated by the desire to stop the exclusion of right-wing trolls from platforms. But also will result in the Islamic State and other militant groups being disadvantaged more scope for action online. The organization He already uses platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Telegram and WhatsApp to radicalize his followers.
Third, the government’s attempts to shut down Voice of America, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and other stations (many of which offer programming in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, and other languages) make it difficult for the U.S. government to counter jihadist propaganda.
Fourth, the drastic Reducing US foreign aid from Trump’s side hampered efforts to help allies in the Global South stop the spread of Islamist extremism. Earlier this year, the government even briefly stopped funding Kurdish forces in Syria that guard prison camps housing 8,000 Islamic State fighters and 27,000 family members. If these prisoners are released, the threat from the Islamic State will expand. Although necessary funding has resumed, American support is so low that authorities are struggling to keep the camps together. At least Trump reduced the number of US troops in Syria, but did not withdraw them completely, as he tried to do in 2018.
Fifth, the administration’s disregard for U.S. allies and international norms endangers international cooperation necessary to combat terrorist networks. For example, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbardpractical blamed Australia for the Bondi Beach shooting. He wrote: This is not the kind of message someone in Gabbard’s position should be sending to one of America’s closest partners. Some allies are restricting intelligence sharing with Washington.
Sixth and finally, the Trump administration has compromised the fight against terrorism appoint so many unqualified officials. Examples include Gabbard herself (a conspiracy theorist with no experience in the intelligence community); the former podcaster who was named deputy director of the FBI and is now leaving the post after less than a year; and the 22-year-old former intern who landed a high-level position in terrorism prevention at the Department of Homeland Security.
The government’s preoccupation with ideologically manufactured false threats makes the United States more vulnerable to the very real threat of militant Islamic terrorism.
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