The United States government says a recent counterterrorism operation in Nigeria produced the largest seizure of terrorist electronic equipment since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, disclosed the details during an interview with PragerU CEO Marissa Streit. Gorka said U.S. operatives required an additional aircraft to transport the volume of electronic devices and intelligence materials recovered from the raid.
“From that raid we brought home, we needed an extra plane to bring home all the electronic material that we captured in those camps. The haul was three times bigger than any enemy electronics haul since 9-11,” Gorka said.
He described the Nigerian mission as one of the administration’s most significant counterterrorism successes. According to Gorka, he watched the operation live from the White House Situation Room three weeks ago. He said 199 jihadists were killed in the single raid, which he called the largest enemy neutralisation in one counterterrorism operation since 9/11.
“That is priceless, because now our experts are taking apart all of that information, looking at how ISIS is communicating with each other,” Gorka said. He confirmed that U.S. intelligence agencies are analyzing the devices to gain insight into Islamic State networks and operational methods.
Since late 2025, the United States has expanded security cooperation with Nigeria. The partnership now centers on intelligence sharing, counterterrorism operations, and military capacity building. The renewed engagement gained momentum after National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu led a high-level delegation to Washington in November 2025, where both countries agreed to establish a Nigeria-US Joint Working Group on security.
Previous joint operations include a strike in Borno State that eliminated several Islamic State West Africa Province militants, including the group’s Deputy Leader, Abu Bakr al-Mainuki. Gorka said the intelligence recovered from the latest raid could prove even more consequential than the casualties inflicted.
Gorka argued that the operation reflects a more aggressive counterterrorism posture under President Trump. He said that in the administration’s first 15 months, American forces killed about 1,031 jihadists globally and secured the release of 106 American hostages without paying ransom. “We are not watching and waiting. We are dealing death to bad people,” he said.
Addressing the focus on Africa, Gorka said ISIS fighters displaced from Iraq and Syria have relocated to the continent due to the presence of ungoverned territories. “Terrorists need ungoverned space. They need somewhere where they can hang out and rebuild. Africa has a lot of ungoverned space. That’s why I focus a lot of my attention on that region of the world where ISIS is trying to reconstitute a caliphate,” he said.
He added that the U.S. is working with African governments to counter extremist groups that exploit local conflicts. “We’ve been working intelligently. I sent a team of mine out to Africa to some key states and said, look, we’re not here to tell you what to believe in. But if you’ve got a terrorist threat, that is a threat to us. Let’s work together,” Gorka stated.
Detailing the approval process for the Nigeria operation, Gorka said President Trump authorized the strike immediately after being briefed. “We told the President, this man has killed Americans and is planning to kill Americans. And we’ve been watching him for a year and a half under the Biden administration. The President looked up from the resident desk… and said, ‘What do you mean we’re watching him? Kill him.’”
Gorka said less than 30 hours later, he was in the Situation Room watching the strike carried out at 8:45 a.m. on a Saturday. The President later declassified video of the strike and posted it on Truth Social.
Gorka also defended the administration’s decision to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, describing the group as the ideological foundation of several modern jihadist movements, including ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Hamas.
