The United States has disclosed that electronic equipment and intelligence materials seized during a recent counter-terrorism operation in Nigeria represent the largest cache of enemy electronic devices recovered since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The disclosure highlights the growing security cooperation between Nigeria and the United States, with both countries deepening intelligence sharing and joint counter-terrorism efforts aimed at degrading the operational capabilities of the Islamic State and its affiliates operating in West Africa.
According to the United States government, the volume of electronic devices recovered during the operation was so large that an additional aircraft had to be deployed to transport the materials for intelligence analysis.
Washington said intelligence agencies are currently examining the seized devices to gain deeper insights into the communications, operational methods and networks of the Islamic State (ISIS).
The revelation was made by the United States Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, during an interview with Marissa Streit, Chief Executive Officer of PragerU.
Gorka described the Nigerian operation as one of the most significant counter-terrorism successes recorded by the current administration, likening the mission to scenes from a Hollywood action thriller.
According to him, the operation resulted in the killing of 199 jihadists in a single raid, which he described as the largest number of enemy combatants neutralised in one counter-terrorism operation since the September 11 attacks.
“I can talk about this because it has been declassified. The President is not…going around the world like some lunatic neocon saying, ‘we will turn the world into America’.
“But if you’re threatening Americans, or if you’re targeting Christians, he has a very strong message to send to you, whether it was his Christmas Day strike, or three weeks ago, what we did in Nigeria.
“Three weeks ago in Nigeria, I watched it live from the Situation Room. It was like being in a Tom Clancy movie, but it’s better because it’s real. I watched our operatives kill 199 jihadists in one operation.
“Now, why is this important? That is the biggest neutralisation enemy killed in action since September the 11th. 199 jihadists who will not harm Americans again.
“Not only that, 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.
“That is priceless, because now our experts are taking apart all of that information, looking at how ISIS is communicating with each other. We are so back in the game of counterterrorism. It is just superlative to watch our professionals,” he said.
Since late 2025, the United States and Nigeria have significantly expanded security cooperation, moving beyond advisory engagements to a more structured partnership focused on intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism operations, institutional reforms and military capacity building.
The renewed collaboration gathered momentum after National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, led a high-level Nigerian delegation to Washington in November 2025, where both countries agreed to establish a Nigeria-United States Joint Working Group on security.
One of the major outcomes of the partnership was a joint Nigerian-American operation in Borno State that eliminated several Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters, including the group’s deputy leader, Abu Bakr al-Mainuki, following earlier coordinated strikes on terrorist enclaves during the Christmas period.
Gorka, however, maintained that the intelligence recovered during the latest operation could prove even more valuable than the number of militants killed.
He said the electronic devices are currently being analysed by American intelligence agencies as part of efforts to dismantle ISIS networks and prevent future attacks against the United States and its allies.
The White House official argued that the operation reflected a more aggressive counter-terrorism strategy under President Donald Trump, saying the administration had abandoned what he described as a policy of “watching and waiting.”
According to him, American forces eliminated about 1,031 jihadists globally during the administration’s first 15 months while securing the release of 106 American hostages without paying ransom.
“We are not watching and waiting. We are dealing death to bad people,” he said.
Gorka warned that extremist organisations continue to pose a significant global threat, citing attacks carried out by ISIS and other jihadist groups, including violence targeting Christian communities in Nigeria.
“If you’re threatening Americans, or if you’re targeting Christians because they’re Christians, he has a very strong message to send to you,” Gorka said in reference to President Trump.
Speaking on Africa’s security landscape, he said the continent has increasingly become attractive to ISIS because of vast ungoverned spaces where extremist groups can regroup after suffering setbacks in other regions.
He explained that many ISIS fighters displaced from Iraq and Syria during Trump’s first administration relocated to Africa after the collapse of the group’s self-declared caliphate.
“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.
While acknowledging that many African conflicts are rooted in local disputes over resources, ethnicity and communal issues, Gorka argued that extremist organisations seek to exploit such grievances by imposing radical ideologies on existing conflicts.
He said the United States was working closely with African governments to prevent that strategy from succeeding.
Gorka added that relations between Washington and several African countries had improved under the current administration after what he described as ideological disagreements with the previous United States government.
“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,” he said.
He also defended President Trump’s decision to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, describing the group as the ideological foundation of several modern jihadist movements, including ISIS, Al Qaeda and Hamas.
According to him, the designation was one of the administration’s most significant counter-terrorism decisions and should have been implemented decades earlier.
Gorka further warned that radical Islamist organisations continue to pose threats to both Africa and the United States, cautioning that extremist groups could exploit migration routes and weak border controls to expand their activities. He nevertheless praised ongoing efforts by senior US homeland security officials to strengthen border security and disrupt terrorist and organised criminal networks.
Explaining how the Nigeria operation was approved, Gorka said President Trump immediately authorised the mission after being briefed on the threat posed by the ISIS leader.
“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 (Trump) looked up from the Resolute Desk, he looked at us and said, ‘What do you mean we’re watching him? Kill him.’
“And as a result, he took out his iconic Sharpie pen. He ticked the ‘go box’ on the operational orders we had in front of him. Less than 30 hours later, I’m in the Situation Room under the West Wing with the National Security Advisor with my colleague from my counterterrorism team.
“And we watched like clockwork at exactly 8.45 in the morning on Saturday, this ISIS leader being permanently removed from the battlefield. The President then declassified the video of that strike. He posted it on Truth Social, it went 120 million likes in like eight hours,” he added.
