Trump Signs Counterterrorism Strategy Targeting Cartels, Extremists

President Donald Trump signed a new U.S. counterterrorism strategy on Monday behind closed doors at the White House, with the document unveiled publicly on Wednesday. The 16-page plan, announced by Sebastian Gorka, the National Security Council's senior director for counterterrorism, broadens the definition of terrorism to include drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere, legacy Islamist groups and violent domestic political extremists alongside traditional jihadist threats.

Gorka, who oversaw the strategy's drafting, outlined its three main pillars during announcements at the National Press Club and in calls with reporters: preempting plots through intelligence, disrupting funding and recruitment, and dismantling networks using military, cyber, financial and law enforcement tools. The approach marks a shift from prior administrations' focuses, integrating transnational crime and domestic ideological violence into national security priorities.

The strategy identifies Iran as the primary state-backed terrorism threat from the Middle East, pledging kinetic, intelligence and cyber operations against its proxies until the regime poses no further danger to Americans, Israeli or Iranian...