America's counter-terrorism chief under Donald Trump. Early in Trump's second term the administration ordered strikes against Islamic State jihadists in a cave complex in Somalia.
Gorka is among the hawks in the White House who are unconvinced by Ahmed al-Sharaa's transformation in Syria, insisting the country remains a counter-terrorism issue. He is famous for combative rhetoric, calling critics of the Iran war "testicularly challenged" and saying terrorists should be vapourised into "red mist".
In May 2026 Gorka unveiled a 16-page counter-terrorism strategy, described by him as his "life's work". It identifies three threat categories—narco-terrorists and transnational gangs, Islamist terrorists, and violent left-wing extremists—and omits any mention of the Iran war or right-wing extremism. The strategy was widely criticised as polemic rather than policy. America has so far carried out 57 confirmed strikes on alleged "narco-terrorist" boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing at least 192 people. American air strikes in Somalia since the start of 2025 have risen to 190, a nearly four-fold increase on the Biden years.
You're growing out of some of your problems, but there are others that you're growing into.