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At AmFest 2025, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard sounded the alarm on what she described as a rising Islamist ideology threat in the U.S. and Europe.She pushed back on the shallow way people talk about “unity” today. Real unity, she argued, isn’t about agreeing on everything — it’s about standing together on the God-given freedoms written into the Constitution.“Being American isn’t just about land or borders,” she said. “It’s about responsibility. Freedom survives only if we defend it.”One of her strongest warnings was about threats to freedom that she says many leaders refuse to name. She described radical Islamist ideology as fundamentally incompatible with America’s foundations — not just a security issue, but a freedom issue.“This isn’t about censorship,” she said. “This ideology uses force, fear, and violence to silence anyone who disagrees.”She warned that if Americans refuse to clearly name and confront this threat, the country will slowly slide into what’s already happening elsewhere.“Look at Europe. Look at Australia,” she said, pointing to places where people have been arrested for silently praying in public or for posting something online that someone else found offensive. “That’s not theoretical. That’s real.”She said the pressure shows up in different ways — from Germany canceling Christmas markets over security concerns, to radical clerics openly recruiting young people in U.S. cities like Dearborn and Minneapolis.Gabbard also pointed to activist groups like Council on American-Islamic Relations calling for the use of America’s own legal and political systems to advance Sharia law. “This isn’t a ‘someday’ problem,” she said. “It’s already happening.”She cited cities like Houston and Paterson, New Jersey, where local leaders openly celebrate implementing Islamic principles in governance. Her warning was blunt: “Once freedom is replaced by ideology enforced through law or fear, you don’t slowly lose liberty — you lose it all at once.”She tied that warning to free speech, saying Charlie believed the answer to bad ideas wasn’t silencing them — it was defeating them with better ones. “We don’t protect free speech by canceling it,” she said. “We protect it by using more of it.”she reminded the crowd of Jesus’ command: love God fully, and love others — even when it’s hard, “Today is the day we choose courage over fear, truth over silence, and love rooted in God over everything else.”