New FOIA Release Obtained by ACLJ Confirms U.S. Army Labeled Operation Rescue, Pro-Life Groups, and “Choose Life” Plate Owners as “Terrorist Groups”

U.S. Army, what were you thinking? Al Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah . . . and Operation Rescue?

One of the most recent egregious examples of weaponization by the federal government came to light back in the fall of 2024 and involved Biden’s Department of Defense labeling pro-life groups as terrorists. Specifically, the U.S. Army trained soldiers at Fort Bragg (known for a short time during the Biden Administration as Fort Liberty) that pro-life groups, including our client Operation Rescue and potentially anyone with a “Choose Life” license plate, were “terrorist groups.” This was, no doubt, a shocking and disturbing discovery that strikes at the heart of our constitutional freedoms.

We took immediate legal action on behalf of Operation Rescue. First, we sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, demanding all information regarding this offensive, so-called anti-terrorism briefing.

We followed up the FOIA request with a demand letter to the U.S. Army calling for it to apologize and cease mislabeling our client as a terrorist group in its training materials. As we explained at the time:

The idea that those who stand for the sanctity of life – a fundamental tenet of many faiths and a constitutionally protected belief – could be equated with terrorists is not only factually incorrect but also represents a dangerous conflation of peaceful advocacy with violent extremism. This situation is reminiscent of past attempts by government entities to stigmatize and marginalize conservative and Christian viewpoints.

Further, as we stated in our demand letter:

[T]hese Army officials did not merely identify our client and the other pro-life groups as terrorist organizations as if in some passive statement of opinion – which itself would have been problematic. Instead, they used these materials to train soldiers as they prepare to take on installation access control duties, warning them to consider our client a terrorist organization as they go about their duties.

To our even greater dismay, after receiving our demand letter and FOIA, the Secretary of the Army later admitted that this egregious mischaracterization had been going on “for at least the last seven years,” raising serious questions about the erosion of religious liberty and freedom of speech within our armed forces.

Thankfully, the Secretary of the Army responded to our demand letter, acknowledging by name that Operation Rescue is not a terrorist group and stating that this training “inaccurately referenced non-profit public advocacy organizations National Right to Life, Operation Rescue, . . . as terrorist groups, which is inconsistent with the Army’s Antiterrorism policy and training.”

FOIAs are a waiting game, but after a seven-month wait, we’ve had a recent development in this case and have just received the full PowerPoint presentation in accordance with our FOIA request. The full presentation reinforces the finding we suspected: The U.S. Department of Defense, under then-Commander-in-Chief Biden, was effectively training American troops to view pro-life organizations – and everyday pro-life Americans – as equal to Islamic terrorists.

Without any distinction or clarification, the presentation lists Operation Rescue and anyone with a “Choose Life” license plate as “terrorist groups” right after Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Hamas and right before listing terrorist incidents like 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombing. It was every bit as defamatory of pro-life groups as we thought.

You can view the full set of slides here.

Our troops already have enough challenges to face without political forces injecting Left-wing, anti-life rhetoric into their training. This was a Deep State effort to label pro-life Americans – and the dedicated pro-life organizations that have spent years offering counseling, support, and alternatives to abortion – as terrorists. Such actions are nothing less than un-American.

We will continue to apprise you as additional FOIA documents are delivered to us through our FOIA.

UPDATE 03.18.2025: Further review of the production has revealed additional concerning elements to the Army training. As we discussed on Sekulow yesterday:

The full presentation reinforces that Biden’s DOD was training soldiers to view pro-life organizations and citizens as equal to Islamic terrorists.

However, the PowerPoint presentation also proved that the DOD didn’t only label pro-lifers as terrorists. It also gave its version of the history of terrorism, which it claims began with “‘Zealots of Judea’ in the first century A.D.” In other words, they blame the roots of terrorism on the Jews.

ACLJ Senior Counsel for International and Government Affairs Jeff Ballabon reacted to this outrageous revelation:

“If you look back just a couple of decades, and even maybe more recently than that, dictionaries and encyclopedias, when they define terrorism, it all starts with . . . the French Reign of Terror, and that’s when the notion of terrorism really starts then. Now, there was violence way before – the time of the Bible also. So there’s a seamless narrative that’s being created on the internet . . . that’s being used by sources to create this idea that . . . the Jews are the ones who brought terror and violence into the world, . . . which is, of course, the exact opposite of reality, which is, again going back to those sources a few years ago in the modern world, it’s attributed to whom? Surprise, the Palestinians. Because they’re the ones who actually launched global terror into the world.”

We will keep you updated on further developments from our FOIA. We won’t allow Israel or pro-life organizations to be labeled as terrorists.