Former CIA counterterrorism director certifies Mamdani’s legitimacy while warning that Islamophobic smears fuel domestic extremism and undermine democratic discourse
Credibility Under Fire: How Intelligence Community Expertise Becomes Democratic Defense Against Xenophobic Campaign Rhetoric
Matt Castelli, a former CIA officer and director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council, intervened in the mayoral campaign to certify that Zohran Mamdani is definitively not a jihadista declaration carrying weight because of Castelli’s institutional counterterrorism credentials. Castelli’s op-ed represented unusual intelligence community engagement in partisan politics, suggesting that false characterizations had reached sufficiently dangerous levels to warrant professional correction. By grounding his defense in expertise”As someone who spent nearly 15 years fighting actual jihadists, I can say with certainty: Zohran Mamdani is not a jihadist”Castelli made clear that the characterization represents not legitimate political debate but factual misrepresentation. Castelli’s warning that “in a political climate already strained by violence, Stefanik’s rhetoric is especially dangerous because it risks fueling the kind of homegrown terrorism we are now confronting” elevated the stakes beyond electoral competition to encompassing actual physical safety. The intelligence expert’s intervention signals that mainstream foreign policy professionals view anti-Mamdani rhetoric as reckless and destabilizing rather than legitimate opposition.
