Report: Muslim Brotherhood Embedded in US Agencies
Dr. Qanta Ahmed of the Independent Women’s Forum joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss an ISGAP report that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated multiple US agencies and that Gov. Greg Abbotts’ R-Texas. CAIR has been labeled a terrorist organization.
President Donald Trump’s new executive order directing the Departments of State and Treasury to pursue terrorism designations for specific chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood marks one of the most significant shifts in U.S. policy toward the movement in decades.
It was signed on November 24 and launches the first formal review of the Brotherhood chapters in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon under US law. It redefines how Washington treats Islamist movements with political and militant wings.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, praised the move, calling it essential for national security. “The Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates encourage, facilitate and provide resources for the conduct of jihadist terrorism around the world,” he said, urging Congress to advance its Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025.
DESTRUCTIVE REPORT CALLS ON US TO DECLAIM THE ISLAMIC GROUP THAT INFILTRATES ALL ASPECTS OF AMERICAN LIFE AS A TERRORIST ORG
Supporters of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood take part in a protest near Jordan’s border with the occupied West Bank on May 21, 2021. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP via Getty Images)
Washington has long debated whether the Brotherhood is a unified global movement or a loose network of national chapters with different agendas and levels of militancy. That dispute blocked previous attempts to designate the group. Trump’s order sidesteps that debate and directs federal agencies to investigate individual chapters that analysts say already meet legal thresholds.
Mariam Wahba, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a statement that the directive “replaces years of debate with concrete action” and forces U.S. agencies to assess Brotherhood entities that function as “real organizations with leadership structures, funding channels and documented ties to terrorist groups.” She said the order “treats Islamist actors based on their behavior, not their branding.”
The Brotherhood has been banned throughout the Arab world for years. Egypt banned it in 2013 after accusing the movement of radicalization and attempts to undermine state institutions. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates soon after called it a direct threat to national stability. Bahrain has published similar findings. Jordan disbanded its local chapter this year after arrests related to illegal weapons activities. Austria has also taken legal action against Brotherhood-linked networks as part of its counter-extremism framework.
Officials in these countries say the Brotherhood uses a mix of religious preaching, political activism, charities and media platforms to shape public opinion and challenge state authority.
In the West, the Brotherhood operates much more freely. In the United States, organizations affiliated with the Brotherhood function through charities, advocacy centers, mosques, student organizations, and community groups. This openness has raised concerns among counterterrorism officials, especially after a U.S. federal investigation in the early 2000s uncovered an internal Brotherhood memorandum describing its work in America as a long-term effort to influence and weaken Western institutions from within.
A report commissioned by the French government earlier this year warned of the Brotherhood’s influence in the country, but Paris has not yet introduced an official ban.
TRUMP SIGNALS PLAN TO DESIGNATE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
Egyptian protesters chant anti-Muslim Brotherhood slogans as they attend a rally in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on November 30, 2012. (AP)
According to research by the think tank Mind Israel, the document reflects the Brotherhood’s belief in “long-term social influence” through education, welfare networks and the media.
The movement was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna in Egypt, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The Brotherhood promoted Islam – according to experts – as the solution to modern political crises and relied on aid, services and media to expand its base. Influential thinkers such as Sayyid Qutb later inspired jihadist movements such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State.
Although the Brotherhood historically maintained a symbolic “general guide” in Egypt, the movement now operates as a decentralized network in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America. Wahba noted that this fragmentation explains why previous U.S. attempts to impose a common name failed. Instead, Trump’s order adopts the model used when the United States designated Hamas, the Brotherhood’s Gaza affiliate, in 1997: targeting components “engaged in violence, not the ideology itself.”
The decision also comes amid growing Israeli concerns about a resurgent Islamist bloc backed by Turkey and Qatar. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly praised Trump’s action, calling the Muslim Brotherhood “an organization that threatens stability in the Middle East and beyond,” and saying Israel plans to expand its own restrictions.
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Trump’s new order adopts the model used when the United States installed Hamas, the Brotherhood’s Gaza affiliate, in 1997: focuses on the components “engaged in violence, not on the ideology itself.” (TPS-IL)
Avner Golov, vice president of Mind Israel, argued that the United States should combine the new review process with steps to confront foreign influence in American academia, make arms deals conditional on behavioral changes and close legal loopholes exploited by extremist-affiliated organizations.
As the State and Treasury departments begin gathering evidence, officials say the goal is not a blanket ban but a targeted legal process based on proven links to terrorism. Analysts say the results could determine how the United States deals with a movement that is banned across the Middle East but remains active in Western societies.
