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This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

NEW YORK CITY — The group in the Brooklyn studio seemed harmless. There was a graduate student, a Yiddish teacher, a hairdresser. Fifteen people had gathered on a Wednesday night for a training offered by Extinction Rebellion NYC and Climate Defiance, two climate activist groups that engage in nonviolent civil disobedience and theatrical protest.

They sat in metal folding chairs eating pizza, surrounded by banners and art supplies, discussing how to gain a crowd’s attention without prompting immediate boos.

Yet their actions have apparently drawn the attention of federal counterterror investigators. Last month, an FBI agent arrived at the door of a former member, who was not at the Brooklyn meeting, saying she had questions about Extinction Rebellion.

Environmental activists have long drawn scrutiny from the FBI. But the recent visit appeared to place this group on the leading edge of the Trump administration’s use of law enforcement against what many civil liberties advocates say are constitutionally protected acts of protest and free speech.

After last year’s killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump issued a national security memorandum titled “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.” The memo asserted that the killing and other attacks, such as the attempted assassination of Trump and the slaying of a health care executive in 2024, were “a culmination of sophisticated, organized campaigns” designed to intimidate and influence public policy.

As Suppression of Dissent Increases, Know Your Rights If the FBI Comes Knocking

It linked these acts with “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity,” among other views, and directed the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces to “coordinate and supervise a comprehensive national strategy to investigate, prosecute, and disrupt entities and individuals engaged in acts of political violence and intimidation designed to suppress lawful political activity or obstruct the rule of law.”

Many civil liberties advocates viewed the memorandum as an overly broad assault on political opposition, and it came as the Department of Homeland Security deployed increasingly aggressive tactics against people observing and protesting immigration raids.

Now, the FBI visit may be a sign the Department of Justice is broadening the administration’s scope, said Dana Fisher, director of the Center for Environment, Community and Equity at American University.

The name of the agent the activist said visited his home matches that of one who was part of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force as recently as 2023.

“What we’re seeing right now is growing autocracy in our country,” Fisher said.

Days before the New York activist received the FBI visit, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, posted to X that her office would investigate whether Climate Defiance had broken federal law. The group had recently disrupted a public event held by a congressman at a Long Island synagogue. Last year, several activists in the Boston area, most of whom are members of an Extinction Rebellion chapter there, received visits from people who said they were FBI agents.

The Justice Department referred questions for this article to the FBI, which said, “In keeping with Department of Justice policy, the FBI can neither confirm nor deny conducting specific investigations.”

Nate Smith, who led the Brooklyn training and is one of Extinction Rebellion NYC’s core organizers, said the involvement of a federal counterterrorism agent has shaken some members.

“It has created what it intended to, which is fear,” said Smith, who is also active with Climate Defiance.........

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