Commander branch of the US military responsible for President Donald Trump's illegal military activities classes American cities announced that they are ready to carry out attacks on so-called terrorist organizations on US soil. This startling admission comes after months of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug gang members or affiliates in waters off Venezuela that experts And legislators let's say frank murders.
Gen. Gregory Guillot of U.S. Northern Command, a four-star general under orders from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, clarified his position in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week. When Sen. Jack Reed, M.D., was asked about his willingness to target criminal gangs on U.S. soil, he answered: “If I had questions, I would convey this to the chairman and secretary… And if I had no concerns and I was confident in the lawful order, I would definitely carry out that order.”
Guillot's openness to the possibility of unprecedented military action inside US borders comes as the White House, Pentagon and Justice Department continue to refuse to rule out summary executions of Americans under Trump's claims. list of secret enemiesafter a few weeks requests for clarification from “The Interception”.
The military has carried out 25 known attacks in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. from Septemberresulting in the deaths of at least 95 civilians who are said to be narco-terrorists with ties to criminal gangs. The latest strikes on Monday in the Pacific against “vessels operated by designated terrorist organizations” killed a total of eight people, it said. US Southern Command.
The dubious legal basis for these attacks makes Guillot's response even more troubling, said Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center's Freedom and National Security Program.
“The problem with General Guillot’s response is that he overlooks concerns that have already been raised about the legality of conducting military attacks on drug trafficking operations,” Goitein told The Intercept.
When The Intercept asked whether Guillot was willing to refuse the orders if, after communicating his concerns to the chairman and secretary, he was still unsure about the legality of the orders, Teresa K. Meadows, director of media and planning for U.S. Northern Command, responded, “NORTHCOM does not name terrorist organizations.”
“That's one of the problems with the administration, which is arguing that the president essentially has a license to kill outside the law based on his own words,” said Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer who specializes in counterterrorism issues and the laws of war. “This prerogative can be used anywhere, including within the United States.”
“After the military carried out 95 summary executions of civilians in the Caribbean at the direction of Trump and Hegseth, it is no longer enough for commanders to tell lawmakers that they will handle any legal issues up the chain — at the top of which are those who will give the order,” said Sarah Harrison, who formerly served as assistant general counsel in the Pentagon's Office of the General Counsel for International Affairs. “Rather, to make clear that they will uphold the rule of law, they must make clear that they will disobey clearly unlawful orders, including the scenario outlined by Senator Reed for General Guillot.”
Trump told reporters last week that ground strikes were imminent. “Now we're starting with land, and with land it's a lot easier, and it will start to happen,” he said. “These are ground strikes against terrible people.”
When asked whether the ground strikes will be limited to the territory of the administration regime change project for Venezuela, Trump proposed a much broader threat. “It doesn’t have to be in Venezuela,” he said. The White House did not respond to a request to clarify whether such attacks would occur in the United States.
“I have no indication of an enemy inside.”
Guyot visited address in September, Trump and Hegseth, in which the president told the head of NORTHCOM and hundreds of other generals and admirals that the United States was engaged in a “war from within” and that “certain people in this room” would play a “major role” in it. Guillot pleaded ignorance when asked who he would be ordered to attack. “I have no indication of an enemy inside,” he said last week.
NORTHCOM, which provides command and control of “military defense” and manages military activities in North America, oversaw the deployment of troops to Chicago, Los Angeles and PortlandOregon, which federal judges have ruled illegal as the Trump administration claims rampant civil unrest. were found be exaggerated or fictitious. For example, Trump even falsely claimed that members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang were involved in hand-to-hand combat with American troops on the streets of DC. The White House failed for weeks to refute this lie.
“The Founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances. But the defendants make it clear that the only check they want is a blank check,” U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer wrote in a 35-page opinion last week in which he ordered Trump to stop stationing troops in Los Angeles. “It flies in the face of official information and common sense to conclude that the risks posed by protests—whether in August, October, or even today—could not be sufficiently controlled without the use of the National Guard.”
“Under the Federal Protection Mission, forces under NORTHCOM's command and control protect federal property and federal personnel while enforcing federal law,” Meadows said, even though the statement had nothing to do with questions posed by The Intercept.
The Pentagon declined to say whether DTOs operate in America, referring The Intercept to the White House and the Justice Department.
The Justice Department pointed out to The Intercept that comments made on Monday by Bill Essaily, who Heads the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeleswhen he announced the arrest over the weekend 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 across Southern California on New Year's Eve.
“This investigation was initiated in part in response to President Trump's September 2025 executive order aimed at rooting out left-wing domestic terrorist organizations in our country, such as Antifa and other radical groups,” he explained, citing Presidential Memorandum on National Security 7or NSPM-7, under which Trump directed his administration to target US progressive groups and their donors, as well as political activists who espouse vaguely anti-American, anti-fascist or anti-Christian sentiments.
NSPM-7 also directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to compile a list of “any such groups or organizations” that would be designated as “domestic terrorist organizations.”[s]And Bondi ordered the FBI to “compile a list of groups or organizations engaged in activities that may constitute domestic terrorism,” according to a Dec. 4 Justice Department release. memo, “Implementing the President's National Security Memorandum 7: Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” which the Justice Department shared with The Intercept. Essayli also referred to the memo, saying it mobilized “federal law enforcement agencies to prioritize and counter domestic terrorism and political violence investigations.” He added: “As a result of these directives, we have created this case.”
Justice Department spokeswoman Nathalie Baldassar did not respond to repeated requests to clarify whether the Turtle Island Liberation Front and an alleged more militant group known as the Order of the Black Lotus are on domestic or designated terrorist lists.
White House senior adviser Stephen Miller issued an ominous statement Monday about the administration's crackdown on dissent in America. “Since the release of NSPM-7, enormous government resources have been committed to finding and eliminating a violent fifth column of domestic terrorists operating covertly within the United States,” he said. wrote on X.
