and he graduated last year. What would he need to know about violent extremism?
The Intern in Charge: Meet the 22-Year-Old Trumps Team Picked to Lead Terrorism Prevention
One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the Department of Homeland Security official tasked with overseeing the governments main hub for combating violent extremism.
by Hannah Allam
June 4, 2025, 6:30 p.m. EDT
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-dhs-thomas-fugate-cp3-terrorism-prevention
When Thomas Fugate graduated from college last year with a degree in politics, he celebrated in a social media post about the exciting opportunities that lay beyond campus life in Texas. Onward and upward! he wrote, with an emoji of a rocket shooting into space.
His career blastoff came quickly. A year after graduation, the 22-year-old with no apparent national security expertise is now a Department of Homeland Security official overseeing the governments main hub for terrorism prevention, including an $18 million grant program intended to help communities combat violent extremism.
The White House appointed Fugate, a former Trump campaign worker who interned at the hard-right Heritage Foundation, to a Homeland Security role that was expanded to include the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships. Known as CP3, the office has led nationwide efforts to prevent hate-fueled attacks, school shootings and other forms of targeted violence.
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The once-bustling office of around 80 employees now has fewer than 20, former staffers say. Grant work stops, then restarts. One senior civil servant was reassigned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency via an email that arrived late on a Saturday.
The offices mission has changed overnight, with a pivot away from focusing on domestic extremism, especially far-right movements. The terrorism category that framed the agencys work for years was abruptly expanded to include drug cartels, part of what DHS staffers call an overarching message that
border security is the only mission that matters. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has largely left terrorism prevention to the states.