Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 23 January 2024

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

HAF Temple Safety & Security Guide

The  Hindu American Foundation (HAF) has produced a Safety and Security Guide webpage.

From the webpage:

“… Hindu temples face unique challenges, ranging from hostility of surrounding communities and government bureaucracy to hate crimes and violence.

This guide was created by the Hindu American Foundation to serve as a resource for temple leaders, enabling them to navigate these challenges, and maintain a vibrant, active, and secure temple community.”

The guide discusses hate crimes, including:

• Defining Hate Crimes
• Identifying Hate Crimes
• Preventing Hate Crimes and Active Shooter Incidents
• Responding to Hate Crimes

The guide also discusses Immigration and the Right to Public Access.

Analyst Comments:

This HAF safety and security webpage provides detailed insight of hate crimes, and provides prevention and response guidance that can be used by the Hindu American community and other communities of faith.

NCTC First Responder’s Toolbox: Responses to Overseas Conflicts May Impact Public Safety Agencies in the Homeland

This is a Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team (JCAT) product. JCAT is a collaboration by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), DHS, FBI, and state, local, tribal, and territorial government personnel.  NCTC is a component of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

From this two-page product:

“Public safety agencies in the Homeland may encounter threats of violence or attacks from terrorists in response to overseas conflicts. Lone offenders typically pose the greatest terrorist threat of violence in the Homeland and may take inspiration from conflicts overseas to justify or incite violent extremist attacks against targets, such as perceived ideological opponents, houses of worship, religious and educational institutions, private industry, elected officials, and US Government facilities. A potential attacker’s statements or actions may provide first responders insights into potential motivations and possible tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by the attacker. Law enforcement investigations into what may initially appear to be criminal in nature, such as hate crimes, arson, or financial crimes, may potentially uncover terrorist activities.”

Analyst Comments:

This product is part of DNI’s First Responder Toolbox, which contains multiple resources, many that could be of interest to Faith-Based Organizations (FBO). While this product, and all the products in the Toolbox are aimed at First Responders, they provide valuable information for anyone concerned about the security of FBOs. The two-page Responses to Overseas Conflicts May Impact Public Safety Agencies in the Homeland provides details of multiple threats faced by FBOs.