White House Counterterrorism Strategy Under Gorka Prioritizes Leftists Over Far-Right Threats, Report Finds

The White House’s long-awaited counterterrorism strategy, released on May 6 after months of delays, has drawn sharp criticism for prioritizing political agendas over intelligence assessments, according to current and former counterterrorism officials and threat analysts.

Spearheaded by Sebastian Gorka, the White House’s senior director for counterterrorism, the 16-page document ranks threats based on ideological alignment rather than objective risk. Islamist militant groups, long considered the primary terrorist threat to the U.S., now take a backseat to Latin American drug cartels. Meanwhile, the violent far right—repeatedly identified by the FBI as the leading domestic extremist threat—receives no mention at all.

Instead, the strategy focuses heavily on militant leftists, a small and historically less violent subset of extremism in the U.S., equating them with global terrorist networks like al-Qaida. The document states:

“A new type of domestic terrorism has emerged, driven by violent extremists who have adopted ideologies antithetical to freedom and the American way of life.”

Gorka, who coordinates counterterrorism policy at the National Security Council, has framed the strategy as a “return to common sense,” criticizing President Joe Biden’s 2021 strategy, which emphasized far-right domestic threats. The new document mentions Biden seven times, though it offers scant details on addressing the administration’s stated priorities: Latin American “narcoterrorists,” Islamist militants, and leftist antifascists and anarchists.

Critics Question Strategy’s Data-Driven Basis

Cynthia Miller-Idriss, founding director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University, criticized the strategy’s disconnect from empirical data.

“What it tells me is that this administration is not paying attention to the data, to what our allies are seeing globally, or to where the biggest threats of violence come from or how they might be prevented.”

Political Context and Backlash

The strategy’s focus on leftist extremism arrives amid ongoing Republican claims that Biden’s emphasis on far-right threats amounted to an attack on conservative organizing. This narrative contributed to former President Donald Trump’s January 6, 2021, blanket pardon of over 1,500 defendants, including those who assaulted police during the Capitol riot.

Gorka did not respond to requests for comment. A White House spokesperson, Olivia Wales, defended the strategy in an email, stating:

“President Trump is crushing terrorist threats to the United States and will never let cartels, Jihadists, or the governments who support them plot against our citizens with impunity.”

Five Key Takeaways from the Strategy

• Political Prioritization Over Intelligence: The strategy ranks threats based on political alignment rather than objective assessments, elevating Latin American cartels and leftist groups while ignoring the violent far right.
• Omission of Far-Right Threats: Despite FBI warnings, the document makes no mention of the violent far right as a domestic terrorism threat.
• Leftist Extremism Elevated: Militant leftists are portrayed as a major threat on par with global terrorist networks like al-Qaida.
• Praise for Trump’s Security Policies: The document lavishes praise on Trump’s national security agenda while providing few concrete plans to address stated priorities.
• Mentions of Biden’s Strategy: The document references Biden’s 2021 strategy seven times, framing it as misguided and politically motivated.