FBI Report Describes Graffiti as a Tactic of “Anarchist Violent Extremists”

The FBI says that anti-capitalist graffiti can indicate a mobilization to violence and can be reported to the bureau, according to a counterterrorism report obtained by Prism through a public records request.

The public safety awareness report, dated Jan. 30, states that “anarchist violent extremists,” dubbed AVEs by the FBI, “pose [a] persistent public safety threat.” Among the activities the report claims are “potential indicators of AVE mobilization to violence” are “creating anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, anti-government, or anti-law enforcement graffiti,” which could necessitate law enforcement action.

The report, which is intended for local, state, and other law enforcement agencies, was produced by the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and its Office of Partner Engagement, which maintains the bureau’s relationships with local law enforcement. One agency that disseminated the report, the Washington State Fusion Center, shared it to its own email distribution list with the tags terrorism, ISIS, material support, and violent extremists.

In addition to graffiti, the FBI highlights three other potential indicators of violence: “conducting pre-operational surveillance of government personnel or buildings, law enforcement personnel or facilities, critical infrastructure, or symbols of capitalism”; “making claims of or calling for criminal action against business, government, or law enforcement entities on extremist websites”; “seeking and acquiring materials to construct” improvised explosive devices or improvised incendiary devices.

“No single indicator should be the sole basis for a determination of criminal activity and may include constitutionally protected activities,” the report says.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Intelligence reports like this lead to law enforcement viewing ordinary people and activities, like ‘lawful donations’ to activists, as threats,” Spencer Reynolds, a former senior intelligence and counterterrorism lawyer with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), told Prism in a statement. Reynolds is now senior counsel with the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund. “This thinking justifies criminalizing people for speaking up, in keeping with COINTELPRO tactics to discredit the Black civil rights movement.”

Invasive Surveillance

The report follows other FBI material in the public domain outlining the tactics and symbology of so-called AVEs but adds new ambiguous justification for FBI action, from “making claims” against business or governments to painting graffiti.

In late 2025, an FBI report obtained by The Guardian revealed that the FBI infiltrated a private Signal group chat of immigrant rights activists in New York City who organized to observe public immigration court hearings. That report labeled those volunteer activists as AVEs, according to The Guardian.

The FBI’s liberal application of the AVE moniker and use of invasive surveillance into political organizing is in line with the directives of National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), signed by President Donald Trump in September 2025.

According to the January FBI report, anarchist extremists “oppose what they perceive as authoritarianism, colonialism, and imperialism, as well as more specific government policies such as immigration enforcement.”

“Some AVEs who conduct criminal actions self-identify as anti-fascist, or ‘Antifa,’” the report continues, “while other AVEs may align themselves with Antifa goals but not explicitly use the moniker.”

By tying certain activities to anti-fascist organizing, the government has created a new avenue to pursue extraordinary criminal charges. Since Trump designated antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization” in the NSPM-7, the government has levied its first-ever material support for terrorism charges related to antifa against defendants in Texas. Antifa is not known to be a specific group, movement, or identity, according to organizers and many experts. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray previously testified that antifa is an ideology, not an organization.

The FBI report specifically notes that “a group of at least 11 AVEs” targeted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in July 2025 near Alvarado, Texas. Nine people were later charged in the incident as a “North Texas Antifa Cell,” a government-created moniker. Eight people, known among activists as the “Prairieland 8,” were sentenced last week to what collectively amounted to four and a half centuries in prison. One person was sentenced to 30 years in prison solely for moving a box of zines. All were convicted of “providing material support to terrorists.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) never publicly labeled the Prairieland Eight as AVEs, indicating that the FBI may be labeling people AVEs in law enforcement documents while not revealing that assessment in court filings or other public statements. The January FBI report says that the content of the report may not be used in any court proceeding without prior approval from the FBI.

The FBI report also cites “four AVEs” arrested in December 2025, part of the “Turtle Island Liberation Front” sting, in which four suspects were arrested for reportedly planning coordinated bombing attacks against ICE agents and other alleged targets in Southern California. A longtime paid FBI informant was reportedly instrumental to carrying out the sting.

The FBI report noted that there were “indications of AVE Activity in Minneapolis” in January while DHS swarmed the city. Immigration enforcement agents, killed American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, caused residents and business owners $700 million in losses, and stampeded through neighborhoods leaving a signature trail of chemical clouds from tear gas and smoke grenades—none of which was mentioned in the FBI’s counterterrorism report.

“This intelligence report uses coded language like ‘anti-law enforcement, anti-fascist, and anti-government grievances’ that will likely increase surveillance and criminalization of Black and other people working to advance a more inclusive and just democracy,” Reynolds said. “Issued only days after federal agents killed two peaceful observers in the street, the FBI’s report doesn’t even mention the killings, instead deflecting from the government’s own culpability.”

The FBI did, however, raise the alarm about anarchists.

“Given recent criminal activity in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the FBI is concerned about the potential for AVE violence there,” the report states. In June, the DOJ indicted 15 people in Minnesota with conspiracy; the indictment claims that some individuals were part of antifa “affinity groups.” None of those indicted by the DOJ are charged with assault or causing injuries.

The FBI has long cast anarchists as threats to national security. After the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, the FBI classified anarchists as a domestic terrorism threat. However, a 2025 DHS analysis shows that the most lethal mass-casualty attacks in the U.S. from 2010 to 2023 were perpetrated by those who were not primarily motivated by an ideology.

Political violence in the U.S. is rare, but data from government and independent analyses shows that right-wing extremism is behind the overwhelming majority of deadly political violence in the country, amounting to about 75% to 80% of U.S. domestic terrorism deaths since 2001, The Conversation reported last year.

Anarchist Tactics

The January FBI counterterrorism report outlines so-called AVE targets, tactics, weapons, financing, communications, clothing, and surveillance countermeasures.

“AVEs employ both violent and non-violent criminal tactics to target primarily law enforcement and other government personnel and facilities,” the FBI writes. “They generally will use private encrypted messaging applications to communicate about their criminal activity and will use weapons of opportunity that are inexpensive and easy to procure. These tactics, coupled with AVEs’ use of sophisticated operational security measures, reduce opportunities for law enforcement to proactively identify, report, and disrupt AVEs’ criminal plans.”

The report also raises alarm about alleged risks to law enforcement officers.

“AVEs may target law enforcement personnel during constitutionally protected events. They also may target law enforcement personnel engaging in or supporting immigration enforcement operations,” the FBI states.

According to the FBI report, anarchists are quick to mobilize “against issues or events that conflict with their ideology.”

“They generally operate alone, but recent incidents highlight how AVEs sometimes form loosely affiliated collectives to engage in criminal actions,” the report states. “Some AVEs have received lawful donations or other funding through social media or mobile payment systems, but the purpose of these funds often is not clear.”

Community mobilization and mutual aid are models of resistance across the U.S. This ground-up organizing, rooted in a belief of universal human rights, now finds itself squarely in the crosshairs of the FBI’s extraordinary surveillance powers.

“The last 18 months have laid bare the reality Black Americans have known for centuries: Police responses often escalate violence, not ensure public safety,” Reynolds said. “Reports like these filed under NSPM-7 illustrate why our country’s sweeping domestic intelligence programs are untrustworthy and undermine the fight for a multiracial democracy.”

Prism is an independent and nonprofit newsroom led by journalists of color. We report from the ground up and at the intersections of injustice.