President Donald Trump signed the 2026 United States Counterterrorism Strategy on Wednesday, elevating drug cartels to the top national security threat and vowing to incapacitate their operations across the Western Hemisphere.

The 16-page document, released by the White House, outlines a comprehensive approach to protect Americans from terrorists, with cartels labeled as 'narcoterrorists' responsible for flooding the U.S. with fentanyl and other illicit drugs that have killed more people than U.S. combat deaths since World War II. Trump wrote in the foreword, 'We will not let cartels, Jihadists, or the governments who support them plot against our citizens with impunity. Terrorists of any kind will not be allowed to find safe harbor here at home or attack us from abroad.'

The strategy's priority is neutralizing hemispheric threats by disrupting cartel finances, tracking drug boats, and removing members, building on a January 2025 executive order that initiated designations of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). U.S. military strikes on cartel drug boats have reduced maritime smuggling by over 90 percent, and the administration captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, described as a cartel ally, through Operation Absolute Resolve.

Fentanyl is treated as a weapon of mass destruction threat, with cartels also implicated in human trafficking and gun smuggling. The plan reasserts the Monroe Doctrine to dismantle these networks and pressures regional partners to contribute more.

Other priorities include destroying top Islamist groups like al Qaeda and ISIS affiliates, as well as neutralizing domestic violent left-wing extremists such as Antifa, designated an FTO in 2025. Sebastian Gorka, White House counterterrorism director, emphasized, 'Our new counterterrorism strategy first prioritizes the neutralization of hemispheric terror threats by incapacitating cartel operations until these groups are incapable of bringing their drugs, their members, and their trafficked victims into the United States.'

The strategy reverses Biden-era focuses, integrating counter-narcotics into counterterrorism and rejecting the U.S. as global police while targeting threats at their source. It calls for rapid response capabilities, stating threats can be eliminated or arrested within 72 hours if identified.