The destruction of Islamist terror groups is one of the main priorities of US Counterterrorism, according to the newly released United States Counterterrorism Strategy 2026 (hereon referred to as the CTS).
The CTS laid out the three major types of terror groups as: Narcoterrorists and Transnational Gangs; Legacy Islamist Terrorists; and Violent Left-Wing Extremists, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists.
The CTS explains that Jihadi terrorists, especially those backed by state actors, continue to pose a threat to the US. One of its top two priorities is therefore is the targeting and destruction of the top five Islamist terror groups that have the intent and capabilities to execute attacks against the United States: al Qaeda, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), ISIS, ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB).
In fact, later in the CTS it states that “all modern Jihadi groups, from al Qaeda to ISIS to Hamas, can trace their roots back to one organization: the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“The MB is the root of all modern Islamist terrorism predicated on recreating the Muslim Caliphate and killing or enslaving non-Muslims,” the CTS adds.
A special focus on politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives
The CTS’ other top priority is 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.
It blamed the Biden Administration for its more relaxed border policy that was “so badly exploited by threat actors that during one 12-month period of the previous administration, more Americans died as a result of the illicit drugs flooded into the country by the cartels than all the US servicemen killed in combat since 1945.”
As such, alongside the use of Foreign Terror Organization (FTO) designations to strangle the commercial and logistical arms of cartels, the US will find and remove the cartel and gang members let into the US under the Biden Administration.
The third main priority is the “rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.”
There is to be a special focus on politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives committed by “violent left-wing extremists,” such as the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
“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,” the CTS says.
Finally, and in a special strategic category, the CTS promises to maintain and increase national assets to combat “the most dangerous terrorist threat to America”: non-state acquisition and use of weapons of mass destruction, especially the terrorist use of nuclear or radiological devices.
Aside from the three main types of terrorist threats to the US, the Counter Terrorism Strategy addresses five aspects of the current environment.
These include the growing relationship between the far-left and Islamists, known as the ‘Red-Green’ alliance; the evolving alliance between established terror groups, such as between Al Shabaab and the Houthis; and the evolving collaboration between nation states and threat groups like cartels.
Counterterrorism resources
Aside from its military and intelligence agencies, the US has the Department of Justice and Homeland Security and the Department of the Treasury’s Threat Finance team at its disposal for countering these threats.
The CTS also acknowledges the role of US’s partner nations and allies, whose resources can be pooled to counter global threats.
It says the greatest “non-kinetic tool” is the power of Presidential diplomacy: “The safe return of all our hostages and American and Americans Wrongfully Detained by authoritarian regimes is a number one priority for President Trump. America will never give up on our citizens.”
It warns countries that wrongfully detain US citizens that they risk being designated as State Sponsors of Wrongful Detention.
In Trump’s foreword, he wrote that the new US Counterterrorism Strategy “is a return to common sense and Peace through Strength.”
“In just one year, we brought back 106 American hostages from captivity abroad without paying a single dollar to their captors. We designated key chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as the terrorist groups they have always been. We mobilized the Department of Homeland Security to remove illegal alien criminals and Jihadist sympathizers from our country. We ended the war in Gaza, secured the release of all remaining hostages, and began the process of ensuring Gaza can no longer serve as a haven for terrorism and extremism by bringing security and prosperity to the region through the Board of Peace. Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury have dealt devastating blows to the world’s number one state sponsor of terror, the sinister regime in Iran, to ensure they can never have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
“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.”
