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It’s got a short acronym for a name, NSPM-7. Those four letters, one hyphen and one number don’t tell you anything about the document that international security scholar Melinda Haas says represents “a profound shift in U.S. counterterrorism policy, one that risks undermining foundational American commitments to free speech and association.”
Haas, who teaches at the University of Pittsburgh, says NSPM-7 – a national security memorandum signed by President Donald Trump in late September 2025 – targets “individuals and groups as potential domestic terrorists based on their beliefs rather than their actions.”
The document focuses mainly on perceived threats from the political left, Haas writes. It identifies “anti-Christian,” “anti-capitalism” or “anti-American” views as “potential indicators that a group or person will commit domestic terrorism.” That’s despite data indicating most political violence within the U.S. comes from the right.
The outcome of this new policy? Repression, says Haas. “Prioritizing investigations into this broad swath of ideologies serves to instill fear, silencing anti-fascist and other messages in opposition to the Trump administration.”
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Naomi Schalit
Senior Editor, Politics + Democracy
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A new Trump administration policy threatens to undermine foundational American commitments to free speech and association.
D-Keine, Getty Images
Melinda Haas, University of Pittsburgh
A new Trump administration policy threatens free speech and association by targeting individuals and groups as potential domestic terrorists based on their beliefs rather than their actions.
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Education
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Roger Meiners, University of Texas at Arlington; Andrew P. Morriss, Texas A&M University; Institute for Humane Studies
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Science + Technology
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Eli Elster, University of California, Davis
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Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, University of Michigan
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Emilee Rader, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Ethics + Religion
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Michael Bruening, Missouri University of Science and Technology
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Kyle Fiore Law, Arizona State University; Brendan Bo O'Connor, University at Albany, State University of New York; Stylianos Syropoulos, Arizona State University
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Arts + Culture
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Ishani Banerji, Clemson University
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Environment + Energy
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Leonel Lagos, Florida International University
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Economy + Business
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Anne Pisor, Penn State
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International
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Peter J. Quaranto, University of Notre Dame; Josefina Echavarria Alvarez, University of Notre Dame; Pavlo Smytsnyuk, New York University; Tyler Jess Thompson, University of California, Berkeley
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