Hi Reader,
Last week, our reporters introduced you to a new Department of Homeland Security official and recent college graduate, Thomas Fugate.
The 22-year-old has no apparent national security expertise. Now, he is overseeing the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, known as CP3, the government’s main hub for domestic terrorism prevention.
Fugate is a former Trump campaign worker who interned at the conservative Heritage Foundation, and the bulk of his leadership experience came from serving as secretary general of a Model United Nations club in college, according to LinkedIn. An $18 million grant program intended to help communities combat violent extremism is now under his remit.
Fugate’s appointment is the latest shock for CP3, an office that has been decimated since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Previously, the office was responsible for leading nationwide efforts to prevent hate-fueled attacks, school shootings and other forms of targeted violence. Under the current administration’s policy priorities and deep budget cuts, CP3’s mission has changed overnight. There has been a pivot away from focusing on domestic extremism, especially far-right movements. The once-bustling office of around 80 employees now has fewer than 20. Grant work stops, then restarts. And the Trump administration has largely left terrorism prevention to the states.
Meanwhile, in the past seven weeks, at least five high-profile targeted attacks have unfolded across the U.S., including a car bombing in California and the gunning down of two Israeli Embassy aides in Washington. Against this backdrop, current and former national security officials say, the Trump administration’s decision to shift counterterrorism resources to immigration and leave the violence-prevention portfolio to inexperienced appointees is “reckless.”
“We’re entering very dangerous territory,” one longtime U.S. counterterrorism official said.
ProPublica sought an interview with Fugate through DHS and the White House, but there was no response. The Trump administration rejects claims of a retreat from terrorism prevention, noting partnerships with law enforcement agencies and swift investigations of recent attacks. Through intermediaries, ProPublica sought to speak with CP3 employees but received no reply. Talking is risky; tales abound of Homeland Security personnel undergoing lie-detector tests in leak investigations, as Secretary Kristi Noem pledged in March.
Critics of Fugate’s appointment stress that their anger isn’t motivated by Fugate’s youth or inexperience in Washington. The problem, they say, is the administration’s seemingly cavalier treatment of an office that was funding work on urgent national security concerns.
“The big story here is the undermining of democratic institutions,” a former Homeland Security official said.
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Thanks so much,
Megan Martenyi
Proud ProPublican
