Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed the FBI to create a cash reward system for information leading to the arrest of leaders of so-called “domestic terrorist organizations,” a category the Justice Department now says includes people and groups associated with what it calls “radical gender ideology,” according to a December 4 memorandum.
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The guidance operationalizes National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, issued by President Donald Trump in September, by ordering federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to prioritize investigations and prosecutions tied to an expansive definition of domestic terrorism. Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein first reported on the memo’s existence on Tuesday, after it was leaked.
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Among the ideologies flagged are “adherence to radical gender ideology,” along with positions favoring mass migration, anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity, and hostility toward “traditional views on family, religion, and morality,” the memo states.
While the directive does not explicitly name transgender people, advocates say the language effectively targets trans communities and those who support them, given the administration’s repeated use of “gender ideology” as a catchall for transgender identity, health care, education, and civil rights advocacy.
“For some culpable actors, such as certain Antifa-aligned extremists, their animating principle is adherence to the types of extreme viewpoints on immigration, radical gender ideology, and anti-American sentiment listed below, with a willingness to use violence against law-abiding citizenry to serve those beliefs,” the memo states.
The memo instructs prosecutors to consider a broad range of criminal statutes, including obstruction during civil disorders, conspiracy against rights, and providing material support for terrorism, when pursuing cases connected to protests or advocacy linked to the newly defined threats.
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Bondi’s guidance also orders federal agencies to comb their files for intelligence related to Antifa and “Antifa-aligned” groups and deliver that information to the FBI within two weeks. Within 30 days, the FBI is directed to compile a list of organizations whose actions “may constitute domestic terrorism,” issue intelligence bulletins on those groups’ structures and funding, and more prominently publicize its domestic-terrorism tip line.
Most controversially, the memo directs the FBI to establish a cash reward system — a bounty — for tips that lead to the identification and arrest of leaders of targeted organizations. Paired with the memo’s ideological framing, the policy risks encouraging informants to report on peaceful activists, LGBTQ+ organizations, or health care providers based on politics rather than evidence of violence.
“The FBI shall establish a cash reward system for information that leads to the successful identification and arrest of individuals in the leadership of domestic terrorist organizations that conspire with others to commit violations of the provisions of law listed in section 2 of this guidance or other offenses against the United States,” Bondi wrote.
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Notably absent from the memo is any acknowledgment of the overwhelming body of research showing that the majority of domestic terrorist violence in the United States is linked to right-wing extremism.
In October, weeks before Bondi’s memo surfaced, Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, warned The Advocate that LGBTQ+ organizations were already bracing for government investigations, and that such threats should be taken literally.
“Yes. Oh my goodness. If you’re awake, you should be concerned,” Robinson said when asked about the administration’s signaling that it could investigate organizations on the left. “Because what we’re seeing is not only threats, but we’re seeing them taking action.”
Robinson pointed to Project 2025 as evidence that stated intentions often become policy. “Anytime you hear their intentions out loud, we have to take that seriously,” she said. “We don’t need to wait until it all comes to hit us and then try to catch up on the backend.”
As a result, Robinson said, advocacy organizations were already planning for an environment resembling authoritarian regimes abroad. “A lot of organizations are thinking about physical and cybersecurity and safety for staff and volunteers,” she said. “We’re doing a lot of work around organizational resilience and learning from colleagues abroad about what it means to adapt in authoritarian environments.”
The administration increasingly frames transgender rights as a national security issue. Earlier this year, federal agencies were weighing whether to fold trans-related activism into emerging violent extremism categories, heightening fears of a modern-day “Lavender Scare” repackaged for the surveillance age.
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