Peters Report Finds Trump Administration Has Dismantled Critical Counterterrorism Infrastructure and Weaponized ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released a new report detailing how the Trump Administration has systematically dismantled key elements of the nation’s post-9/11 counterterrorism infrastructure, diverting personnel and resources away from preventing terrorist attacks, and increasingly weaponizing other counterterrorism authorities for political purposes. The report finds that these actions have left the United States less prepared to prevent and respond to terrorism at a time when both domestic and foreign terrorist threats remain elevated.   

“In the almost 25 years since the September 11th attacks, Democrats and Republicans have worked together to build counterterrorism infrastructure that is capable of preventing another catastrophic attack on our homeland,” said Senator Peters. “In less than two years, the Trump Administration has decimated it by firing tens of thousands of experienced personnel, weakening critical agencies, cutting security funding, and diverting resources that keep Americans safe. Our nation faces serious security threats from foreign and domestic actors, and the Trump Administration’s actions have increased the risk that threats will go undetected and made Americans more vulnerable to attacks.”  

The report documents how the Administration has cut 15,000 positions across the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and 1,300 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel involved in preventing, countering, and responding to terrorism; eliminated or weakened offices responsible for preventing terrorism and protecting critical infrastructure; delayed or canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in security grants; and reassigned law enforcement personnel away from remaining counterterrorism and national security missions to support immigration enforcement operations. The report also raises concerns about the politicization of intelligence and counterterrorism efforts, including the Administration’s efforts to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization – a designation that does not exist in law – and reallocate counterterrorism resources toward immigration enforcement, rather than the most significant threats identified by national security professionals.   

Read the Full Report here.

Read the Executive Summary, Findings and Recommendations here.

The report’s key findings include how the Trump Administration has:  

• Reduced the federal workforce by thousands of employees involved in national security, law enforcement, intelligence, and counterterrorism missions.   
• Removed more than 1,300 personnel from DHS components responsible for preventing, countering, and responding to terrorism.   
• Allowed nearly $1 billion in public safety and homeland security grants to be delayed or canceled, weakening the ability of state, local, Tribal, territorial, and private sector partners to protect their communities.   
• Reassigned law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, and attorneys from counterterrorism and other national security responsibilities to support immigration enforcement operations.   
• Weakened or dismantled key programs and offices responsible for terrorism prevention, critical infrastructure security, weapons of mass destruction preparedness, and intelligence sharing.   
• Advanced policies and intelligence assessments that prioritize ideological and political objectives over evidence-based threat analysis.   

The report also warns that the Administration’s actions come amid a persistently elevated threat environment. National security experts continue to warn of threats from domestic violent extremists, Iran and its proxies and other foreign terrorist organizations. The report notes that attacks targeting houses of worship, elected officials, and other vulnerable communities have continued across the country while federal resources dedicated to preventing terrorism have been reduced.   

The report recommends that the Administration immediately halt politically motivated personnel actions, restore critical counterterrorism capabilities, release required domestic terrorism reporting to Congress, return reassigned personnel to their primary missions, and ensure homeland security grants are distributed without political interference.   

Throughout his time in office, Peters has been a leader in ensuring the federal government adequately addresses both foreign and domestic terrorist threats to Americans. In 2019, Peters authored a bipartisan provision in the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act requiring FBI and DHS to issue annual reports on domestic terrorism threats, related investigations and prosecutions, and how federal resources are being allocated. Congress extended the requirement in the FY2026 DHS Appropriations Act, but the Trump Administration has failed to provide Congress and the American people with the transparency required by law. In 2019, Peters helped convene the Committee’s first domestic terrorism hearing focusing on white supremacist violence. He led the Senate’s bipartisan investigation on the January 6th attack on the U.S Capitol and released a joint bipartisan report on the security, planning, and response failures causing this violence, as we all as two additional reports on domestic terrorism and the intelligence failures that preceded the January 6th attack. As HSGAC Chair, Peters convened a hearing with experts focused on the threat of white supremacist extremism, and convened a two-part hearing with experts representing faith-based, civil rights, and academic and policy research organizations on the continued rise of domestic terrorism.  

Anyone seeking to provide information to the Committee can contact Ranking Member Peters’ staff here.    

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