U.S. Military Willing to Attack “Designated Terrorist Organizations” Within America, General Says

The commander of The branch of the US military responsible for President Donald Trump’s illegal military occupations of US cities said it was prepared to carry out attacks against designated so-called terrorist organizations in the United States. The startling admission comes after months of extrajudicial killings of suspected OTD members or affiliates in waters near Venezuela, which experts and lawmakers describe as outright murder.

Gen. Gregory Guillot of the U.S. Northern Command, a four-star general who takes his orders from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, made his position clear in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week. Asked by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., about his willingness to attack DTOs within U.S. borders, he responded: “If I had any questions, I would talk to the President and the Secretary…And if I had no concerns and I had confidence in the legal order, I would certainly carry out that order.” »

Guillot’s openness about the possibility of unprecedented military action within U.S. borders comes as the White House, Pentagon and Justice Department continue to refuse to rule out summary executions of Americans on Trump’s list of secret enemies, after weeks of requests for clarification from The Intercept.

The military has carried out 25 known attacks in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, killing at least 95 civilians it claims were narcoterrorists affiliated with the DTO. The most recent strikes, three Monday in the Pacific Ocean against “vessels operated by designated terrorist organizations,” killed a total of eight people, according to U.S. Southern Command.

The questionable legal justification for these attacks makes Guillot’s response all the more concerning, said Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program.

“The problem with General Guillot’s response is that it sidesteps concerns that have already been raised about the legality of military attacks on drug trafficking operations,” Goitein told The Intercept.

When The Intercept asked whether Guillot would be willing to refuse orders if, after raising concerns with the president and secretary, he was still unsure about the legality of the orders, Teresa C. Meadows, chief media and plans officer for U.S. Northern Command, responded, “NORTHCOM does not designate terrorist organizations.”

“It’s one of the concerns of the administration that the president essentially has the right to kill outside the law, based on his own words,” said Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer specializing in counterterrorism and laws of war issues. “This prerogative could be exercised elsewhere, including in the United States. »

“After the military carried out 95 summary executions of civilians in the Caribbean under the leadership of Trump and Hegseth, it is no longer enough for commanders to tell lawmakers that they will escalate any legal issues up the chain, at the top of which are those who give the order,” said Sarah Harrison, who previously served as deputy general counsel in the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel for International Affairs. “Rather, to make it clear that they will respect the rule of law, they should be categorical that they will disobey blatantly illegal orders, which include the scenario that Senator Reed presented to General Guillot.”

Trump told reporters last week that ground strikes were imminent. “Now we’re starting overland, and it’s a lot easier overland, and it’s going to start happening,” he said. “These are ground strikes against horrible people.”

Asked whether ground strikes would be limited to the administration’s regime change project in Venezuela, Trump offered a much broader threat. “It doesn’t have to be done in Venezuela,” he said. The White House did not respond to a request for clarification on whether such attacks would occur in the United States.

Guillot attended a September speech by Trump and Hegseth in which the president told the NORTHCOM chief and hundreds of other generals and admirals that the United States was involved in a “war from within” and that a “major role” in that war would be played by “some of the people in this room.” Guillot pleaded ignorance when asked who he might have orders to attack. “I have no indication of an enemy inside,” he said last week.

NORTHCOM, which provides command and control for “homeland defense” and manages military activity in North America, oversaw troop deployments in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, that federal judges ruled were illegal because the Trump administration’s claims of endemic civil unrest were found to be exaggerated or fictitious. Trump even falsely claimed, for example, that members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua engaged in hand-to-hand combat with US troops in the streets of Washington. The White House failed, for weeks, to respond to this falsehood.

“The Founders designed our government as a system of checks and balances. Defendants, however, make it clear that the only check they want is a blank check,” U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer wrote last week in a 35-page opinion, ordering Trump to end the troop deployment to Los Angeles. “It goes against history – and common sense – to conclude that the risks arising from the protests – in August, October or even today – could not have been adequately managed without the use of the National Guard. »

“In the context of the federal protective mission, forces under the command and control of NORTHCOM protect federal property and federal personnel while enforcing federal law,” Meadows said, although the statement had little to do with the questions asked by The Intercept.

The Pentagon declined to say whether DTOs operate in America, directing The Intercept to the White House and Justice Department.

The Justice Department highlighted in The Intercept comments made Monday by Bill Essayli, who heads the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, as he announced weekend arrests of members of what he called “a far-left, anti-government domestic terrorist cell,” known as the Turtle Island Liberation Front, for allegedly planning a series of bombings in Southern California on New Year’s Eve.

“This investigation was initiated in part because of the executive order signed in September 2025 by President Trump to eradicate left-wing domestic terrorist organizations in our country, such as Antifa and other radical groups,” he explained, referring to National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, or NSPM-7, under which Trump directed his administration to target American progressive groups and their donors as well as political activists who profess anti-American, anti-fascist or anti-fascist sentiments. undefined anti-Christians.

NSPM-7 also ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to prepare a list of “such groups or entities” to be designated as a “domestic terrorist organization.”[s]And Bondi ordered the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaging in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism,” according to a Dec. 4 Justice Department memo, “Implementing Presidential National Security Memorandum-7: Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” which the Justice Department shared with The Intercept. Essayli also referenced that memo, saying it mobilized “federal law enforcement to prioritize and countering investigations into domestic terrorism and political violence.” He added: “With these guidelines, we have built this case.”

Justice Department spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre did not respond to repeated requests for clarification on whether the Turtle Island Liberation Front and a supposedly more militant faction known as the Order of the Black Lotus were on domestic or designated terrorist lists.

White House senior adviser Stephen Miller issued a disturbing statement Monday about the administration’s crackdown on dissent in the United States. “Following the release of NSPM-7, vast government resources were mobilized to find and dismantle the violent fifth column of domestic terrorists operating clandestinely in the United States,” he wrote on X.