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White House adviser Sebastian Gorka said Wednesday the administration’s new counterterrorism plan will likely be ready in a month — and will “utterly, completely” differ from the prior government’s approach to domestic terrorism.
At Semafor’s World Economy Summit Wednesday, Gorka — US President Donald Trump’s counterterrorism czar — confirmed he’s in the “final stages” of working on “the US national security policy for terrorism writ large.” Notably, the Trump administration did not produce a domestic counterterrorism plan during its first term, and this was the first time Gorka confirmed he’s working on such a plan.
“Whether you’re trying to kill human beings or whether you’re using a Molotov cocktail against a car dealership because you disagree with the founder politically, all of those are acts of terrorism,” Gorka said.
The Trump administration has targeted anti-Tesla protesters around the country, and the president recently suggested they should be deported to El Salvador.
Gorka said that his recent comments suggesting that critics of Trump’s deportation policy were providing “material support” to terrorists and that they should be charged with a felony crime were taken out of context.
“We will not be using the counterterrorism enterprise against those who politically disagree with us,” Gorka told Semafor’s Shelby Talcott. He stressed that his remarks meant that the administration would only target those who provide financial support to terrorist groups.
“If you are actually supporting a threat group, … you have committed a felony,” Gorka said.
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Gorka also appeared to disagree with Trump on blaming Ukraine for starting the war with Russia: “Ukraine was invaded,” Gorka said Wednesday, adding, “It is right for us to support that nation to re-establish its independence.”
Addressing the slow pace of peace negotiations, Gorka said he was “a little bit disappointed with Kyiv as much as I’m disappointed with Moscow,” adding he was “disturbed” by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s behavior in the Oval Office in February. But Gorka also maintained that Trump’s approach to the war in Ukraine is working.
“[Trump] communicated it two days ago, that there’s a certain level of frustration in the Oval Office, and Kyiv and Moscow better pay attention,” Gorka told Semafor. “That’s all I’m saying.”
The Semafor View
Countries are reassessing how much they spend on defense and security in a world where the post-World War II order seems increasingly fractured. As governments struggle to boost defense budgets, the role of private companies is also in focus. The public and private approach to technical innovation could be the defining factor in any future conflicts.