Over 1,000 leaked government pages show the FBI and DHS have a new domestic target. It’s people who are critical of AI

More than 1,000 leaked government pages obtained by WIRED have revealed a concerning trend in the United States. The documents show that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have a new domestic target: people who express critical views about artificial intelligence. This comes at a time when the US government is heavily investing in AI and data center expansion.

The Trump administration has instructed the Department of Justice to go after individuals who hold “anti-American,” “anti-Christian,” and “anti-capitalism” beliefs. Critics say this has effectively turned domestic surveillance tools toward monitoring and criminalizing speech and gatherings that challenge the White House’s ideology. The timing of this directive has raised serious concerns among civil liberties groups.

One of the leaked documents is a report from the New York Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau that warns of widespread unrest in response to AI adoption. The report uses a new term, “anti-tech violent extremism,” to describe a range of ideologies seen as a threat. This term does not appear in any publicly available DHS or FBI domestic extremism reports or guides.

Experts warn that labeling AI critics as extremists could silence legitimate dissent and harm peaceful protesters

The leaked documents also show that fusion centers across the country are monitoring in-person gatherings and constitutionally protected events related to critical views on technology. These include protests against data centers and the “Tesla Takedown” protests against Elon Musk’s involvement in the US government. 

The NYPD’s intelligence work follows its collaboration with the FBI to monitor the Signal chat of an activist group that was coordinating volunteers to observe immigration court hearings in New York. Open-source intelligence companies that work with federal law enforcement also appear to be searching the web for what they call anti-technology sentiment. 

One such company, SITE Intelligence, has sent bulletins to fusion centers claiming that conversations in a “neo-Luddite” Discord server had turned violent, with one user reportedly calling for violence against tech CEOs and power plants. The DHS has been expanding its domestic reach in other areas too, with DHS confirming ICE’s presence at major public events like the 2026 World Cup.

Spencer Reynolds, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, says that “suspicious activity reports are incredibly unreliable, often about vague or innocent behavior, issued under permissive standards.” 

This raises questions about how such reports are being used to justify monitoring peaceful protesters and people who are simply skeptical of AI. The DHS has also faced scrutiny over internal controversies surrounding Kristi Noem’s leadership at the department, adding further pressure on the agency.

The focus on anti-tech activity is also visible in an invitation to a lecture by extremism researcher Mauro Lubrano that has been circulating in fusion centers across the country. Lubrano’s book identifies followers of “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, German anarchists, Mexican eco-extremists, and far-right fascists in the Terrorgram Collective as distinct but connected parts of an emerging tech extremism movement. 

The lecture has been shared widely within the domestic intelligence network. However, Lubrano himself warns that any anti-tech extremism framework must be used carefully. “I hope the warning I, along with other colleagues, raised is being acknowledged. While anti-technology violence is unacceptable, it should not be used as an excuse to securitize AI and emerging technologies, thereby silencing those who are critical of the current trajectory,” Lubrano told WIRED. 

Reynolds echoes this concern, saying, “As people continue to organize for a better future, we’re likely to see more surveillance and criminalization of this opposition, just as we have of Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, and environmental movements in recent decades.”