The Government Has a Secret Terrorist List. Your Beliefs Could Put You On It.

Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed a secret list of "domestic terrorist organizations" exists. She refused to share it with Congress. The criteria include "anti-capitalism" and "anti-Christianity."

State of Surveillance Editorial Team

TL;DR: On February 11, 2026, Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed (for the first time) that the federal government maintains a secret list of "domestic terrorist organizations" under NSPM-7. When asked to share the list with Congress, she refused. When asked what groups are on it, she'd only say: "I know antifa is part of that." The criteria for making the list include holding "anti-capitalism," "anti-Americanism," or "anti-Christianity" views. This isn't about violence. It's about beliefs.

The Admission

It happened during a routine House Judiciary Committee hearing on February 11, 2026. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Constitution and Limited Government, pressed Bondi on the list her December memo had ordered the FBI to compile [1].

Did the list exist?

"I'm not going to answer yes or no," Bondi said.

Would she share it with Congress?

"I'm not going to commit to anything."

But when asked directly what groups were on the list, Bondi slipped: "I know antifa is part of that." [1]

For months, the Justice Department had refused to acknowledge the list existed. They wouldn't confirm it to reporters. They wouldn't discuss it with civil liberties groups. But in that moment, the mask dropped. The list is real. It has names on it. And the government won't tell anyone, including Congress, who's on it.

How You Get on the List

The criteria for being designated a "domestic terrorist organization" under NSPM-7 aren't about planning attacks. They're about what you believe.

According to the leaked Bondi memo and Trump's September 2025 directive, the FBI is looking for groups that espouse [2][3]:

  • Anti-Americanism
  • Anti-capitalism
  • Anti-Christianity
  • Antifascism
  • "Radical gender ideology"
  • "Hostility toward those who hold traditional American views"
  • Open borders views

Read that list slowly. Climate groups that criticize corporate capitalism? Potential terrorists. LGBTQ+ rights organizations? Same category. Immigrant advocacy groups supporting asylum seekers? Check the box.

This isn't about stopping violence. There's already law for that. This is about criminalizing political dissent by labeling it terrorism.

The Bondi Memo

On December 4, 2025, Bondi issued the implementation memo that put NSPM-7 into action [3][4]. It directed:

  • Federal prosecutors and law enforcement to investigate "Antifa and other extremist groups" for domestic terrorism
  • The FBI to "compile a list of groups or entities engaged in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism"
  • Every FBI field office to "review their files and holdings for Antifa and Antifa-related intelligence"
  • Initial report submitted January 3, 2026, with updates every 30 days

The list has been building for six weeks. New names get added monthly. And nobody outside the administration knows who's on it.

No Congressional Oversight

When Scanlon asked Bondi to share the list with Congress, the answer was no. Not "we'll consider it." Not "through proper channels." Just no [1].

This isn't how counterterrorism is supposed to work. After the Church Committee exposed FBI abuses in the 1970s, Congress established oversight requirements. The Attorney General's Guidelines, the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide: these frameworks exist specifically to prevent political targeting [4].

NSPM-7 blows past all of them.

"This is usually the way we find out an actual investigation is underway," said Ron Kuby, attorney for groups targeted under the directive [5]. When agents show up at activists' doors, there's no warning. When organizations get designated, there's no notice. There's no appeal process. You don't get to challenge your inclusion.

You just find out when the FBI starts knocking.

It's Already Happening

This isn't theoretical. The FBI is already visiting activists.

In February 2026, Joint Terrorism Task Force agents tracked a former Extinction Rebellion member for weeks before showing up at his door. In March 2025, six Boston climate activists got FBI visits on the same day [5].

The connection is direct. Extinction Rebellion's philosophy challenges capitalism's role in climate destruction. Under NSPM-7's criteria, that makes them candidates for the terrorism list. Their door is where the policy becomes practice.

And it's not just climate groups. Immigration rights organizations, racial justice movements, LGBTQ+ advocacy groups: anyone whose work touches the ideological criteria is a potential target.

The Church Committee Echo

Legal analysts have spotted a disturbing pattern. The Lawfare analysis of Bondi's memo notes: "In 1975, the Church Committee uncovered the FBI's Security Index... that rolled civil rights leaders, clergy, local officials, and students into a homogeneous category" [4].

History repeating.

The Church Committee exposed COINTELPRO, the FBI's program to infiltrate and disrupt civil rights groups, antiwar movements, and Black liberation organizations. Those revelations led to reforms that were supposed to prevent this from happening again.

Fifty years later, we're watching the same playbook: secret lists, ideological criteria, surveillance of political opponents, and an Attorney General who won't tell Congress what's happening.

The Official Contradiction

Here's the dark irony. The Trump administration's own National Security Strategy, released alongside NSPM-7, warns against "ideological monitoring." It states that security powers "must never be abused... under the guise of deradicalization" [4].

The same administration building secret lists based on ideology published a document saying they shouldn't do that. Either the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, or they know exactly what they're doing and don't care.

What You Can Do

If you're part of an organization that might fall under NSPM-7's ideological criteria:

  • Assume you're being monitored. The FBI has 200+ Joint Terrorism Task Force units nationwide. They're actively building lists.
  • Know your rights. You don't have to talk to FBI agents. You can politely decline and ask them to leave. Review our guide.
  • Document everything. If agents visit members, record badge numbers, names, questions asked. Share with your organization and legal support.
  • Connect with legal support. The National Lawyers Guild and ACLU have experience defending activists targeted by federal investigations.
  • Keep organizing. The point of political surveillance is to scare people into silence. Don't let it work.

The Bottom Line

The United States government now maintains a secret list of "domestic terrorist organizations" based on ideological beliefs rather than violent acts. The Attorney General confirmed it exists. She refused to tell Congress who's on it. The criteria include opposing capitalism and holding "anti-Christian" views.

This is what political surveillance infrastructure looks like when it's fully built and operational. The tools developed for immigration enforcement are being turned inward. The databases that track immigrants can track activists. The facial recognition systems that scan border crossers now scan protesters.

We told you the surveillance state was being built. Now you're watching it get used.

References

  1. The Intercept: Pam Bondi Admits DOJ Has a Secret Domestic Terrorist List (February 12, 2026)
  2. Wikipedia: NSPM-7
  3. Democracy Now!: "Domestic Terrorism": Leaked DOJ Memo Targets "Anti-Americanism, Anti-Capitalism, Anti-Christianity" (December 8, 2025)
  4. Lawfare: The Bondi Memo's Quiet Rewriting of Domestic Terrorism Rules
  5. Common Dreams: Nonviolent Climate Activist Group Says It's Been Targeted by FBI 'Terrorism' Task Force (February 18, 2026)