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The Conversation
The Conversation
Melinda Haas, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh

The Trump administration’s global campaign against ‘radical left terrorism’ is built on a national security memo without congressional approval

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivers opening remarks during the Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism at the State Department on July 16, 2026, in Washington. Finn Gomez/Getty Images

A little-noticed presidential national security directive is now the legal engine behind a wave of terrorism prosecutions against left-wing protesters.

That domestic campaign now has an international dimension, one that American officials had been planning for months, culminating on July 16, 2026, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism drew representatives from more than 65 countries to Washington. The gathering was informally called the “Antifa summit.”

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