Gabbard Releases More Docs From Biden Era
A newly unredacted memo from June 2021 has sparked fierce debate over the Biden administration’s approach to domestic terrorism, revealing that federal agencies were authorized to monitor Americans engaged in “concerning non-criminal behavior” — particularly individuals in categories such as military service members, gun owners, and those accused of spreading “disinformation.”
The strategic memo, made public by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, outlines the administration's framework for countering domestic terrorism, exposing just how far federal intelligence and law enforcement were instructed to go in identifying potential threats. Legal experts and lawmakers argue that the memo appears to drastically lower the threshold for federal scrutiny — from criminal conduct to subjective behavioral assessments — raising deep concerns about civil liberties, political targeting, and the weaponization of federal power.
Under longstanding Department of Justice guidelines, the FBI must establish a clear predicate — that is, reasonable suspicion of criminal or national security threats — before opening an investigation. However, the Biden-era memo marks a distinct shift, instructing agencies to treat “concerning behaviors” as potential indicators of domestic extremism, even if they don’t rise to criminal activity.
This policy pivot effectively opened the door to surveillance of individuals who expressed constitutionally protected views, especially those on the political right. The memo included directives to identify “iconography and phraseology” associated with domestic extremism — including symbols like the Gadsden flag, the Betsy Ross flag, and Second Amendment slogans — all common in conservative circles.
Critics argue that this targeting appeared one-sided, with no corresponding identifiers tied to left-wing extremism, such as BLM or Antifa imagery. Dr. John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, said the symbolic focus seemed ideologically biased: “Everything that you can find there seems to be something that would be associated with conservatives.”
“the Biden administration… directed law enforcement to investigate individuals… deemed to be spreading disinformation.” https://t.co/gcXDQoT48h pic.twitter.com/hWDDWe9Udl
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) May 6, 2025
The memo went beyond surveillance. It laid out a legislative and executive policy agenda that echoed core Democratic priorities, such as banning assault weapons, limiting high-capacity magazines, and promoting red flag laws. These were framed not merely as public safety measures but as tools to eliminate the “means for perpetrating acts of domestic terrorism.”
The Biden Domestic Policy Council was instructed to lead efforts not only to combat extremism but to “advance inclusion in the nation's COVID-19 response” and “mitigate xenophobia and bias” — language critics say aligns with progressive ideology and suggests the federal government was weaponizing policy to police political and cultural dissent.
Since the strategy’s implementation, multiple FBI whistleblowers have come forward to report how this framework enabled politically charged investigations. FBI agent Garrett O’Boyle, for example, testified that he was directed to pursue pro-life activists for threats against the Supreme Court, even when the public protests and intimidation were coming from pro-choice demonstrators.
The now-infamous “Catholic Memo” revealed the FBI’s plan to develop informants within conservative Catholic churches. Another whistleblower disclosed that parents who protested school curriculum at board meetings were scrutinized under counterterrorism programs — a move many interpreted as criminalizing dissent.
The revelations from the declassified memo have reinforced President Donald Trump’s calls to dismantle FEMA and restructure federal law enforcement oversight. In a January executive order, Trump cited cases of politically motivated targeting — including the now-confirmed directive to skip homes “advertising Trump” in Florida during hurricane relief efforts — as examples of systemic bias and misuse of federal authority.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), a leading voice on government oversight, called the memo “a broad brush to start spying on Americans,” warning it authorizes actions that violate the Fourth Amendment and the fundamental principle that the government should not investigate citizens without a valid predicate.