# NSPM-7: Domestic Terrorism Framework The **weaponization of "domestic terrorism" as a framework for criminalizing political dissent**. National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), titled "Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence," was issued by President Trump on September 25, 2025. It directs federal law enforcement to treat common political beliefs — anti-capitalism, criticism of Christianity, support for immigration, "radical gender ideology," and characterizing American institutions as "fascist" — as **indicators of domestic terrorism**, and establishes a multi-agency enforcement apparatus to investigate, prosecute, and "disrupt" individuals and organizations holding those views. NSPM-7 represents the most significant expansion of the domestic terrorism framework since the post-9/11 era, but with a critical inversion: where post-9/11 tools were aimed at foreign-inspired terrorism, NSPM-7 explicitly turns the same counterterrorism infrastructure — Joint Terrorism Task Forces, financial surveillance, intelligence fusion — **against domestic political opposition, civil society organizations, and nonprofit groups**. ## What NSPM-7 Says ### The "Indicators" of Domestic Terrorism NSPM-7 identifies the following as "common threads" motivating domestic terrorism: | NSPM-7 "Indicator" | What This Actually Describes | |--------------------|-----------------------------| | **Anti-Americanism** | Criticism of U.S. government policy, institutions, or history | | **Anti-capitalism** | Support for economic regulation, labor rights, wealth redistribution, or alternatives to free-market capitalism | | **Anti-Christianity** | Secularism, church-state separation advocacy, criticism of Christian nationalist politics | | **Extremism on migration** | Pro-immigration advocacy, refugee support, opposition to deportation | | **Radical gender ideology** | Support for transgender rights, LGBTQ advocacy | | **Hostility towards traditional American views on family, religion, and morality** | Opposition to conservative social positions | | **Portraying foundational American principles as 'fascist'** | Anti-fascist political speech; calling authoritarianism authoritarian | | **Support for the overthrow of the United States Government** | The only category that describes actual criminal conduct (18 U.S.C. § 2385) | The critical observation: **seven of eight categories describe protected political speech and beliefs**, not criminal conduct. Only "support for the overthrow of the United States Government" describes something that is actually illegal. The memorandum conflates constitutionally protected political expression with terrorism indicators. ### The Enforcement Apparatus NSPM-7 directs: | Action | Agency | Effect | |--------|--------|--------| | Joint Terrorism Task Forces to "coordinate and supervise a comprehensive national strategy" | FBI/JTTF | Turns 200+ local JTTFs into political investigation units | | Investigation and disruption of "entities and individuals" | FBI | Organizational targeting, not just individual suspects | | Financial investigation of organizations | FBI + IRS | Nonprofit tax status as leverage against political organizations | | NSPM-7 Joint Mission Center | 10 agencies | Permanent multi-agency command center for domestic political investigations | | AG implementation memo | DOJ | AG Bondi's December 4, 2025 directive operationalizing the memorandum | ## Implementation Timeline | Date | Development | |------|------------| | **Sep 25, 2025** | NSPM-7 signed | | **Oct 2025** | 3,000+ nonprofits sign letter opposing NSPM-7 | | **Dec 4, 2025** | AG Bondi issues implementation memo directing prosecutors to investigate "Antifa and other extremist groups" | | **FY2027 budget** | FBI requests funding for **NSPM-7 Joint Mission Center (JMC)** — 10-agency command center to "proactively identify networks and prosecute domestic terrorist and related criminal actors" | | **Mar 2026** | FBI-IRS joint initiative announced to investigate nonprofit organizations for "links to domestic terrorism"; IRS Criminal Investigation agents rotating through FBI assignments | | **Apr 2026** | JMC operational; integrating intelligence, operational support, and financial analysis | | **Apr 21, 2026** | **SPLC indicted** — 11 federal counts (wire fraud, false statements, money laundering conspiracy); first major criminal prosecution under NSPM-7 framework. See [[SPLC Federal Indictment]] | ## Named Targets The Trump administration has **explicitly named** three organizations as targets: 1. **[[Open Society Foundations]]** — [[George Soros]]'s philanthropy 2. **Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)** — The organization that tracks right-wing extremism documented throughout this KB 3. **[[Ford Foundation]]** — Major progressive philanthropy The targeting of the SPLC is particularly significant for this KB: the organization that provides the monitoring, research, and civil litigation against white supremacist groups (documented across dozens of entries in the KB) is itself being classified as adjacent to "domestic terrorism" by the federal government. ## The Legal Landscape ### Constitutional Concerns NSPM-7 implicates: - **[[First Amendment]]:** Protected speech and association rights; political beliefs cannot be criminalized - **Due process:** "Disruption" as a goal implies action before criminal conduct occurs - **Chilling effect:** Even without prosecution, the threat of federal investigation as a "domestic terrorism" suspect deters political participation ### Litigation - **Hilton v. Noem** (D. Me., 2:26-cv-00092): Seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against unconstitutional collection and dissemination of records based on First Amendment-protected activity - **ACLU challenges:** Multiple legal actions in progress - **Big Law advisory:** Arnold & Porter, DLA Piper, and other major firms issued client alerts warning of prosecution risk for nonprofit organizations, donors, and activists ### The Nonprofit Response Civil society organizations have formed a **"NATO-like" mutual defense alliance** — exchanging legal strategy, staff, and resources to support organizations targeted under NSPM-7. This represents the most organized nonprofit resistance to a government policy directive since the McCarthy era. ## KB Significance ### 1. The Inversion NSPM-7 takes the domestic terrorism framework the KB documents in the context of **actual** white supremacist violence — [[The Order]], Atomwaffen, Terrorgram, Pittsburgh, El Paso, Christchurch — and redirects it against the people and organizations **opposing** that violence. The SPLC, which won civil judgments destroying [[Aryan Nations]] and bankrupting WAR, is now itself a named target. ### 2. Post-9/11 Tools Repurposed The JTTF structure, the financial surveillance apparatus, the intelligence fusion centers — all built to combat al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism — are being repurposed as instruments of domestic political control. Arnold & Porter's analysis explicitly frames this as "turning powerful post-9/11 counterterrorism tools onto domestic policy targets." ### 3. Belief-Based Targeting The most significant element is the shift from **conduct-based** to **belief-based** targeting. Traditional counterterrorism investigates what people *do* (plan attacks, acquire weapons, conduct surveillance). NSPM-7 investigates what people *believe* (anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity, pro-immigration, anti-fascism). This is the framework of a political police, not a counterterrorism agency. ### 4. The Chilling Effect as Feature The NSPM-7 framework doesn't need to produce mass prosecutions to be effective. The threat of being investigated as a domestic terrorist suspect — with the financial surveillance, career consequences, and social stigma that entails — is sufficient to deter political participation by nonprofit organizations, activists, and donors. The chilling effect is the mechanism, not a side effect. ## See Also - [[NSPM-7]] — Full text, implementation details, and legislative tracking - [[Authoritarian Personality Theory]] — The threat-activation framework that explains NSPM-7's political logic - [[Active Measures]] — The irony: NSPM-7 uses state power against domestic opposition in ways that parallel the authoritarian techniques it purports to combat - [[Heritage Foundation]] — [[Project 2025]]'s influence on the domestic terrorism framework - [[Militias and Extremist Groups Ecosystem]] — The *actual* domestic terrorism landscape NSPM-7 ignores - [[Terrorgram Collective]] — A designated terrorist organization; the contrast between real terrorism infrastructure and NSPM-7's belief-based targeting - [[Pro-Democracy Movement]] — The movement NSPM-7 is designed to suppress - [[SPLC Federal Indictment]] — First major criminal prosecution under NSPM-7 (April 2026) - [[Paxton v. Powered by People]] — State-level analog: Texas AG targeting voter registration nonprofit