Source: https://www.levernews.com/the-war-on-terror-vets-running-trumps-anti-americanism-task-force/ (paywall bypass confirmed via archive: https://archive.ph/SsG2d)
Publisher: The Lever (Eshaan Vakil)
Date Published: July 2, 2026
Relevant To: NSPM-7 domestic terrorism designation framework; DOJ “anti-Americanism” prosecution task force
Verification Status: Verified
Notes: Confirmed via full-text fetch plus archive.ph screenshot (which bypasses the paywall and confirms the article body matches the earlier preview). President Trump’s Justice Department has tapped two War on Terror veterans — Brian Lynch and Jason Kellhofer — with histories of using warrantless surveillance, litigating Guantanamo Bay military trials, helming “pre-crime” prosecutions, and arguing against civil rights protections to run a new task force, Joint Task Force Vanguard, prosecuting “anti-Americanism.” JTF Vanguard first surfaced publicly in the June 16, 2026 DOJ indictment of 15 people connected to a Minneapolis-based community-patrol group described by DOJ as having “Antifa ties,” charged with assault on an ICE agent and conspiracy to impede government operations. Legal basis is National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM)-7 (“Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” signed September 25, 2025), which labels “anti-capitalism,” “anti-Christianity,” and “extremism on migration, race, and gender” as evidence of domestic terrorism support — alongside a related September 2025 memo formally designating the loose/leaderless “Antifa” movement as an organized domestic terrorist group. DOJ frames both memos as a response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Directly relevant to BPA’s fusion-center/OSINT tracking and the broader ICE-protester-database story already in the library (Markey/Frost letter, ID 3577) — this task force appears to be the prosecutorial arm that would act on intelligence gathered by that kind of database.