Dan Driscoll, current US Secretary of the Army under the Trump administration, issued a letter of apology to pro-life groups after Biden-era training sessions characterized them as terrorist organizations.
The antiterrorism and protection training sessions, which occurred from the summer of 2023 through 2024 at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, insisted that openly pro-life individuals represented a terrorist threat. The slides singled out the National Right to Life and Operation Rescue as “terrorist organizations,” and also included individuals who “oppose Roe v Wade” and have “Choose Life” license plates on their vehicles.
Driscoll expressed his outrage over the sessions, stating in a recent letter that “this mischaracterization was not only inaccurate but also deeply inappropriate,” and calling the Biden Administration’s response “inadequate.”
“Its failure to provide full transparency or take responsibility for such a grievous error is wholly unacceptable,” he wrote.
“Let me be clear, the Army does not consider Operation Rescue, National Right to Life, and other pro-life groups to be terrorist organizations,” Driscoll underscored. “Further, the Army does not view pro-life beliefs or state-issued pro-life license plates as indicators of terrorism.”
“While I cannot undo the harm that this training caused, I want to offer my sincerest apology to Operation Rescue, National Right to Life, and all pro-life groups negatively impacted by the false characterization of all pro-life organizations made by this training,” he continued. “Please be assured that I am firmly committed to rigorous oversight of all Army training materials to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.”
In 2024, after the slides were confirmed to be in the training sessions, more than two dozen lawmakers from the House of Representatives wrote a letter to then-Army Secretary Christine Wormuth demanding an explanation.
“The Army is utilizing an overly broad policy to police the speech of conservative servicemembers, quiet dissent, and require servicemembers who believe in conservative ideals to hide their identities for fear of retaliation from their commands,” the letter emphasized.
This was not the only time the previous administration sought to connect conservatives and Biblical values with “terrorism.” The Biden administration in 2021 was similarly condemned for “soliciting” an NSBA letter that labeled parents “domestic terrorists” for opposing sexually explicit material in schools and ideologically driven lesson plans.
According to evidence presented by House Republicans at the time, the NSBA called on then-President Biden to “invoke the PATRIOT Act” against parentsโa law enacted following 9/11 to “deter and punish terrorist acts.”
The Biden administration was heavily criticized for targeting Christians and conservatives, including coercing big tech companies to censor their views online. The House Judiciary Committee in May of 2024 released a report, which reviewed “tens of thousands of emails and nonpublic documents,” revealing the massive scope of this campaign, its “chilling effect” on free speech, and how it sought to intentionally distort public debate.
Since taking office, President Trump has sought to correct the overwhelming bias against conservatives and Christians by the Federal government. This reportedly included a request from the State Department to employees, asking them to report all instances of “anti-Christian bias” they had witnessed over the last four years.
The stark contrast in US administrations is a remarkable answer to prayer. Christians who were witnessing the rapid deterioration of liberties and moral standards took to their knees in the lead-up to the election last November. Many warned that a Harris victoryโand a continuation of the same destructive policiesโwould be detrimental to the freedoms of Christians and the United States as a whole.
One of the reasons the Bible instructs Christians to pray for governing authorities is so that we may “lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 1:1-2)โin other words, it is a prayer for the freedom to live with a Biblical worldview, including standing up for the sanctity of life in the womb, the rights of parents, and the outreach of the Gospel.
