On Monday, 09 Jan, at least 16 Jewish community centers in seven US states reportedly received bomb threats, seemingly to frighten American Jews. Separate reports note that in the UK, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that threatening calls were made to three Jewish schools in London, with claims that explosive devices had been emplaced at the facilities (calls were also made to some non-Jewish schools). While all these proved to be hoaxes, the threats caused a variety of responses including enhanced security measures, evacuations, and lockdowns, and tied up law enforcement and school personnel. Responding to the incidents, Paul Goldenberg, National Director of Secure Community Network, (part of the Jewish Federation of North America), told NorthJersey.com that “We’ve definitely seen an increase in threats made against the Jewish community in the U.S. and abroad in recent months.”
But threats to the community of faith are not limited to the Jewish community. The recently released Daesh e-mag (Rumiyah, issue 5) calls for arson attacks against a variety of facilities, including churches. Bridget Johnson, writing in PJ Media notes, “After recent tutorials advising lone jihadists how to commit knife and vehicle attacks, (Daesh’s) latest issue of Rumiyah magazine counsels terrorists on waging arson attacks — with a Dallas megachurch suggested as a possible target.” In previous posts, our team has noted the potential for faith-based attacks (such as “Yom Kippur, Faith Based Threats & Broader Related Risks”) and threats (such as to a Colorado Islamic Center last summer, “Do You Know If Your Neighbor Is Threatened?”).
While these threats, and other incidents such as the 2015 Charleston church massacre or the 2012 attack at a Wisconsin Sikh temple, focus on people of faith and their places of worship, the threats and potential incidents have broader implications. Leaders need to see their organizations as a part of the broader community they operate in and work together with other local personnel to understand the threat environment, security activities and response plans.
As stated in the Yom Kippur post (link above), “leaders need to remember to think of potential threats and periods of heightened concern not just in relation to their organization’s immediate threats but also to the related risks that may be exposed due to threats facing neighbors and nearby organizations. In the image (below), the
Downtown Baltimore Jewish Community Center is marked with the red icon. It doesn’t take much thought to appreciate that an attack against that facility, as an example, would have physical implications for a number of surrounding facilities and businesses. While a hostile event – a terror attack, hate crime, or other incident – may be focused on the Jewish community (or any other faith or organization) there are associated threats and risks leaders need to consider as part of their continuous risk assessment and security.”
If a local place of worship is attacked, neighboring facilities and businesses need to be prepared. That starts with developing collaborative, information sharing networks and conducting proper preparedness. Organizations need to take the time to develop security relationships with their neighbors, developing hostile event plans and procedures, conducting staff threat awareness and incident response training, executing appropriate exercises and ensuring they are working together with their neighbors to develop community resilience.
Security and risk leaders have a duty to prepare their teams for potential hazards and to protect people and property. It is not only the direct threats to their organizations that need to be considered but also the threats, targeting, and potential attacks that neighbors may experience that need to be understood and prepared for.
To help organizations understand and prepare for the possibility of hostile events, Gate 15 has developed our Hostile Events Preparedness Series (HEPS). HEPS is a complete preparedness solution to addressing hostile event threats. Working with premier partners to ensure the most complete and expert support, Gate 15 is available to help organizations mitigate the risks associated with a potential Hostile Event to protect your people, property and interests. Learn more about HEPS here!
