National Interest

by Joe Zacks

    The usual subject of Islamist terrorism takes second billing to concerns in the Western Hemisphere.

    President Donald Trump’s new counterterrorism strategy is an unapologetic, hard-hitting political manifesto that prioritizes the targeting of drug cartels over the usual emphasis on Islamic extremists. The political language may not be to the liking of some readers, but the document’s focus is groundbreaking.

    Approximately 80,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2024 and another 700 to 1,500 were killed in drug-related violence. This is in contrast to the fewer than 4,000 Americans who have been killed on US soil from Islamic terrorism over the past 25 years, including the 2,977 murdered on September 11, 2001.

    Given that the majority of drugs are imported to our soil by cartels based in the western hemisphere, drug-related deaths and violence in America are a clear national security threat, many orders of magnitude greater than that posed by Islamist terrorists. In a marked departure from prior counterterrorism strategies, the 2026 document prioritizes the fight against narco-terrorists as its America First focus on keeping our citizenry safe.

    While the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act and similar legislative initiatives have been modestly effective in combating the drug cartels, the designation of these groups as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) gives law enforcement, the intelligence community and the military expanded powers to tackle these destructive organizations head-on.

    Treating cartels like terrorist organizations enables more aggressive prosecution, broader financial disruption and stronger international coordination (Canada followed suit with its own FTO designations simultaneously). Unfortunately, while these designations may well reduce the supply of drugs in the United States, they sadly do not impact our country’s seemingly insatiable demand for drugs.

    Illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals are considered weapons of mass destruction in the strategy and the administration promises to deal with these threats accordingly. Categorizing these substances as “Weapons of Mass Destruction” may be unorthodox, but it certainly demonstrates a seriousness of purpose in tackling our decades-long war on drugs.

    Narco-terrorists are effectively killing Americans on US soil and the administration is committed to eradicating them. The counterterrorism strategy captures what we have been witnessing from the administration these past two years with the aggressive enforcement of shipping lanes, seizure and sinking of drug vessels and the flawless operation to bring Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to justice in the United States.

    While the new strategy gives long-established Islamic terrorist groups second billing, it takes on the Muslim Brotherhood in an unprecedented manner. The document notes that all of today’s jihadi groups trace their intellectual roots to the brotherhood and applauds the administration’s designation of its Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese chapters as terrorist groups. The strategy then promises to expand this designation to other Muslim Brotherhood chapters.

    The strategy prescribes short high-intensity campaigns against five jihadi groups deemed as the most dangerous and capable of targeting our homeland and its citizens. Rather than getting mired in long-term foreign conflicts, the administration is determined to apply maximum, laser-focused lethal pressure on terrorist organizations. The military’s recent campaign that targeted and eliminated large concentrations of ISIS in Somalia is a case in point.

    In addition, the strategy puts organizations targeting Christian communities, predominantly in Africa, on notice. The administration demonstrated its resolve in this regard when it warned Nigeria to address anti-Christian violence. When it failed to see the Nigerian government take appropriate action, the Trump administration took matters into its own hands and struck terrorist targets there on Christmas Day 2025. The strategy clearly articulates the administration’s commitment to protecting Christians globally.

    For many, one of the most controversial aspects of the new strategy will likely be its categorization of “violent left-wing extremists, including anarchists and anti-fascists” as one of the three major types of terror groups targeting the United States, the first group being the cartels and the second Islamic terrorists. Domestic terrorism was, for the first time, a major focus of the Biden administration’s 2021 counterterrorism strategy.

    The Biden administration prioritized countering racially- or ethnically-motivated violent extremist groups. The Trump administration has shifted the focus to left-wing violent extremists. Because violent domestic extremist groups are sadly becoming a reality that can no longer be ignored, they will almost certainly be addressed in future counterterrorism strategy documents regardless of the reigning administration’s party affiliation.

    Since Inauguration Day, the Trump administration has been active and decisive in countering terrorism and protecting Americans at home and abroad. The 2026 counterterrorism strategy codifies what has been repeatedly and successfully demonstrated by an administration that has clearly charged its counterterrorism professionals to keep America safe.