The Left is absolutely losing it after reports confirmed that President Donald J. Trump has tapped 22-year-old Thomas Fugate, a fresh college graduate to temporarily head the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
New: One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the Department of Homeland Security official tasked with overseeing the government’s main hub for combating violent extremism. https://t.co/N4ewx5VDsK
— ProPublica (@propublica) June 4, 2025
Anonymous “experts” quoted by ProPublica called Fugate’s appointment “reckless:”
His career blastoff came quickly. A year after graduation, the 22-year-old with no apparent national security expertise is now a Department of Homeland Security official overseeing the government’s main hub for terrorism prevention, including an $18 million grant program intended to help communities combat violent extremism.
The White House appointed Fugate, a former Trump campaign worker who interned at the hard-right Heritage Foundation, to a Homeland Security role that was expanded to include the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships. Known as CP3, the office has led nationwide efforts to prevent hate-fueled attacks, school shootings and other forms of targeted violence.
Fugate’s appointment is the latest shock for an office that has been decimated since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and began remaking national security to give it a laser focus on immigration.
News of the appointment has trickled out in recent weeks, raising alarm among counterterrorism researchers and nonprofit groups funded by CP3. Several said they turned to LinkedIn for intel on Fugate — an unknown in their field — and were stunned to see a photo of “a college kid” with a flag pin on his lapel posing with a sharply arched eyebrow. No threat prevention experience is listed in his employment history.
Typically, people familiar with CP3 say, a candidate that green wouldn’t have gotten an interview for a junior position, much less be hired to run operations. According to LinkedIn, the bulk of Fugate’s leadership experience comes from having served as secretary general of a Model United Nations club.
“Maybe he’s a wunderkind. Maybe he’s Doogie Howser and has everything at 21 years old, or whatever he is, to lead the office. But that’s not likely the case,” said one counterterrorism researcher who has worked with CP3 officials for years. “It sounds like putting the intern in charge.”
The Daily Beast piled on, hyperventilating that Fugate’s LinkedIn shows “almost no experience” in counterterrorism.
According to the far-left outlet, Fugate was mowing lawns as a self-employed “landscape business owner” just five years ago at the tender age of 17.
As recently as August 2023, he was stocking shelves and ringing up groceries at an H-E-B supermarket in Austin, Texas, while pursuing a degree in politics and law at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He graduated magna cum laude.
His now-deleted LinkedIn profile described his role at H-E-B as a “Cross Functional Team Member,” where he heroically performed “various activities around every department of the store.”
The news outlet reported:
There isn’t much else on his resumé to suggest Fugate has the requisite skills to weed out terrorists. Prior to his work as a gardener—while studying for a degree in politics and law—Fugate worked at an H-E-B supermarket in Austin, Texas, as a ‘Cross Functional Team Member.’
According to his LinkedIn, he would “perform various activities around every department of the store, fulfilling key duties contributing to store operations.”
Since leaving college, Fugate has had a meteoric rise in the political world, having served as an “advance team member” on President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, according to his LinkedIn page.
An avowed Republican, he also interned at the Heritage Foundation, the think tank behind Project 2025, and for Texas Representatives Terry Wilson and Steve Allison.
Fugate was reportedly hired as a “special assistant” in an immigration office at the DHS in February, according to ProPublica. He then took over CP3 after its previous director quit.
“Tom Fugate has performed well in his current role as a Confidential Assistant in our Immigration & Border Security suboffice,” a senior DHS official said in a statement to Daily Beast.
“Due to his success, he has been temporarily given additional leadership responsibilities in the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships office (CP3). This is a credit to his work ethic and success on the job.”
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