Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard declassified documents from the Biden administration Wednesday, revealing how “domestic terrorism” was used as a pretext to attempt to curb gun rights and target “misinformation.”
Former President Joe Biden prioritized tackling purported domestic terrorism, and the newly released documents shed additional light on his administration’s strategy.
Gabbard announced the release of Biden’s “Strategic Implementation Plan For Countering Domestic Terrorism” on X.
“As promised, I have declassified the Biden Administration’s Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism,” Gabbard wrote.
As promised, I have declassified the Biden Administration’s Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism.
Read it here: https://t.co/VAXDHkgZTK https://t.co/oNXjKDqamc pic.twitter.com/p9co00Scge
— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) April 16, 2025
Biden’s intelligence community zeroed in on firearms — specifically “ghost guns,” “high-capacity magazines” and “assault weapons,” the documents show.
“Rein in the proliferation of ‘ghost guns’; encourage state adoption of extreme risk protection orders; and drive other executive and legislative action, including banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” the strategy detailed under a section about “long-term contributors to domestic terrorism.” (RELATED: DOJ And ATF Repeal Biden’s ‘Zero Tolerance Policy,’ Delivering Win For Gun Owners)
Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) cracked down on “ghost guns,” or un-serialized, privately made firearms.
The Second Amendment group Gun Owners of America slammed the document, deeming it “Biden’s secret plan to eliminate the Second Amendment in the name of ‘counterterrorism.’”
🚨 BREAKING🚨
Tulsi Gabbard declassifies President Biden’s secret plan to eliminate the Second Amendment in the name of “counterterrorism.” https://t.co/MYeIPX9K4W pic.twitter.com/g6Jv75esiS
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) April 17, 2025
The documents also demonstrated how the Biden administration was focused on countering “hate crimes” and “bias-motivated crimes,” particularly ones concerning “xenophobia.”
The administration aimed to enact the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to achieve various goals, including police training and hate crime data collection and analysis, according to the documents. The strategy also highlighted “[mitigating] xenophobia and bias, including advancing inclusion in the nation’s COVID-19 response.”
Biden’s counterterrorism strategy also demonstrated how various agencies, including those outside the intelligence community, coordinated to implement his agenda.
In one section, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was named as coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), State Department (State) and the Department of Education (ED).
Those agencies were instructed to fund and develop “digital literacy programming” to counter domestic terrorism recruitment and “online disinformation,” according to the strategy. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: State Department Divide Breaks Open Between Establishment, MAGA Loyalists Over USAID Cuts)
The Trump administration is attempting to slash USAID’s funding, and the agency is now under the State Department. USAID has been accused by foreign countries of being a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) cutout.
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) was also integral to Biden’s counterterrorism strategy, according to the documents. The NCTC falls under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
It operates a “database of known and suspected terrorists” and is privy to information on domestic and foreign terrorism, according to the agency’s website.
The documents highlighted “online radicalization” and noted the U.S. Government would work with international organizations such as “United Nations (UN) Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact entities.”
The strategy said the NCTC, FBI, DHS, State, Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Security Council (NSC) would take the “lead” on that action.
The UN compact assists the organization in implementing its Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, among other mandates.
Today, I announced the establishment of a new task force, charged with transparency and accountability, to restore trust in the Intelligence Community and end the weaponization of government against Americans.
My Director’s Initiatives Group, or “DIG,” is already hard at work…
— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) April 8, 2025
This latest declassification is in line with the DNI’s broader effort to promote transparency.
Gabbard launched the Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) in early April. It aims to tackle politicization of the intelligence community and restore accountability.
The Biden administration announced the first-ever “National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism” in the summer of 2021, soon after the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (RELATED: Here Are Some Of The Biggest Mysteries Trump’s FBI Should Solve)
The document asserted that factors like “growing perceptions of government overreach” could increase the possibility of domestic violent extremist [DVE] attacks.
The FBI and DHS also jointly authored a strategic intelligence assessment with assistance from DNI in May 2021, which highlighted “Anti-Government or Anti-Authority Violent Extremists [AGAAVE].”
It specifically addressed “perceived government overreach, negligence, or illegitimacy” as a driver of AGAAVEs.
FBI whistleblower Steve Friend previously told the Caller that the definitions for domestic terrorism have been expanded to include AGAAVEs.