Who’s Thomas Fugate? 22-year-old ‘gardener’ Trump picked to steer terrorism prevention below hearth amid Iran battle

Jun 23, 2025 01:46 PM IST
Thomas Fugate, a 22-year-old who was assigned to a serious terrorism-prevention publish by Donald Trump, is below scrutiny amid Iran’s threats of retribution.
Thomas Fugate, a 22-year-old who was assigned to a serious terrorism-prevention publish by President Donald Trump, is below intense scrutiny amid Iran’s threats of retribution after the US bombed three of its nuclear websites. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) criticised the US President for appointing Fugate to a task on the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) wherein he oversees the Heart for Prevention Packages and Partnerships (CP3). This division of the company is tasked with stopping terrorism.
“As our nation girds for doable Iranian terrorist assaults, that is the particular person Trump put accountable for terrorism prevention,” Murphy wrote. “22 years previous. Latest work expertise: landscaping/grocery clerk. By no means labored a day in counter-terrorism. However he’s a BIG Trump fan. So he acquired the job.”
Many others questioned Fugate’s capabilities in his function. Have a look:
Who’s Thomas Fugate?
A June 4 investigation from ProPublica revealed particulars about Fugate’s resume that left many unimpressed. He acquired the job after William Braniff, who’s an Military veteran with greater than twenty years of expertise, resigned in protest of cuts to CP3.
“If I can’t advance the prevention mission from inside the federal government for now, I’ll do what I can exterior of presidency,” Braniff wrote in a LinkedIn publish asserting his resignation on the time. “CP3 is the heir of the first and founding mission of DHS – to stop terrorism.”
Fugate says on his LinkedIn web page that he spent a number of months performing “garden care work round my neighborhood.” He has additionally labored half time as a clerk at an H-E-B grocery store.
“Perhaps he’s a wunderkind. Perhaps he’s Doogie Howser and has all the pieces at 21 years previous, or no matter he’s, to steer the workplace. However that’s unlikely the case,” an counterterrorism researcher, who has labored with CP3 officers for years, instructed ProPublica. “It feels like placing the intern in cost.”
Fugate is aformer Heritage Basis intern and self-described “Trumplican,” based on Impartial.
