John Guandolo is an American former FBI Special Agent, author and anti-Islam counter-terrorism activist who has provided training sessions for law enforcement and politicians, and who has been described as an "anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist".^[1]

According to press reports, Guandolo was a counter-terrorism expert in the FBI^[1] following the September 11 attacks.^[2] He was previously a retired Marine Corps officer.^[2] He also became involved in other cases, and according to court documents, Guandolo was found to have "had an intimate relationship with a confidential source that he thought could damage an investigation," in connection with the corruption case against former US Representative William Jefferson.^[1] Guandolo resigned from the FBI on or about December 1, 2008, before the bureau's Office of Professional Responsibility could question him about his sexual liaisons with the source, as well as with women FBI agents.^[1] He later expressed "deep remorse" for the relationship.^[1]

Since his resignation from the FBI, Guandolo has regularly provided training courses for law enforcement and elected officials across several US states, under the title "Understanding and Investigating the Jihadi Movement" with his consulting company Understanding the Threat (UTT).^[1] He also helps run a company called Strategic Engagement Group, which aims to "educate the public on the counter jihad movement,"^[3] and has worked with groups such as ACT for America and the Center for Security Policy (CSP).^[4][2] In 2007 he was awarded with the "Defender of the Homeland Award" by the CSP.^[2]

Guandolo is the author of the 2013 book Raising a Jihadi Generation: Understanding the Muslim Brotherhood Movement in America.^[2]

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) describes Guandolo as "a disgraced ex-FBI agent" who now makes a living from "anti-Muslim witch-hunts."^[1] Guandolo in turn claims that the SPLC is "intentionally supporting a terrorist organization in violation of U.S. Law."^[1] The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on local Republican Party chapters to cancel events with Guandolo, who it describes as "a disgraced ex-FBI agent and anti-Muslim extremist who has peddled conspiracy theories about Islam and Muslims."^[1] Guandolo in turn claims that CAIR is a front for Palestine's Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.^[5]

In 2018 Guandolo hosted a law enforcement training in San Angelo, Texas. The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement then rejected the training because it "paints an entire religion with an overly broad brush" and "does not seem to provide any law enforcement training value to attendees."^[6] The same year, several of his planned events in the Midwest were cancelled due to local activism.^[7] By 2022, Guandolo's bookings from law enforcement had "lessened significantly."^[8]

By 2022, Guandolo organized training sessions for right-wing citizens to "organize communities into operational forces to identify roots of corruption & dismantle the hostile networks behind it, and re-establish a Republican form of government at the local level," which were joined by former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.^[9]

Guandolo was accused in 2017 of assaulting a Minnesota sheriff at a National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) expo in Reno, Nevada, where Guandolo was a presenter.^[2] Guandolo had previously claimed that the sheriff "works with jihadis in the community".^[2] Two years later, a Dallas County jury awarded the sheriff $600,000 in a civil lawsuit.^[6][10] Guandolo later lost a self-defense appeal in court.^[11]

Guandolo has claimed that "nearly every single Muslim organization in North America is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood or a derivative group, and that they seek to impose Islamic law in furtherance of establishing an Islamic state here."^[2] He has stated that the US Justice Department should have prevented two Muslim women (Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib) from being elected to Congress, and has claimed that former CIA Director John Brennan is a secret Muslim convert.^[1][12] In 2018 Guandolo's Twitter account was suspended after he posted a tweet that tied the Democratic Party to the Ku Klux Klan and the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh.^[6][13] Following the January 6 United States Capitol attack, he praised insurrectionists for "showing restraint by not publicly executing lawmakers," most of whom he claimed are "traitors" who should be "swinging from a rope."^[9]