Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 14 February 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.

Special Gate 15 Podcast. Lakewood Church Shooting with Faith-Based ISAO

In this special podcast, Andy welcomes in Dave and key members of the FB-ISAO to talk about the Lakewood Church shooting. They looked at how the event unfolded, security processes, and lessons learned. The discussion focused on this incident but discusses ideas relevant to both all facilities and their security operations and to information sharing organizations and ideas on incident analysis and information sharing.

Guests include:

• Mayya Saab, the Executive Director of FB-ISAO
• Ed Heyman, Co-Chair of the FB-ISAO Operational Resilience Group (ORG) 
• Phil Froehlich, Co-Chair of the FB-ISAO ORG

Analyst Comments:

For those unfamiliar with the work of the FB-ISAO’s ORG, the ORG focuses on “identifying non-cybersecurity-related threats – those pertaining to man-made threats, natural hazards and health issues – relevant to the community and the associated risks, helping to inform the FB-ISAO physical threat level, developing actions members can consider given a specific threat level, and other activities relating to enhancing the awareness, security and resilience of our members and community, during both routine operations and during incidents relevant to the community.”

FB-ISAO members should reference this week’s FB-ISAO Advisory which will be published today for in-depth analysis of the incident. Below are additional updates on the Lakewood Shooting:

• Houston shooter at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church had 2 rifles, police say
• Jewish grandmother says Lakewood shooter worshiped at megachurch
• The Osteen Church Shooter Doesn’t Fit a Neat Profile
• Video shows shooting at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church CBS Mornings on YouTube)
• What to know about the shooting at Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Texas during Sunday services
• Lakewood Church shooter was mentally troubled, consistently identified as female, police say
• Suspect legally purchased rifle used in Lakewood Church shooting, HPD says
• Following deadly Houston shooting, churches revisit safety protocols

FB-ISAO Newsletter, v6, Issue 2 – FB-ISAO

ICYMI. Yesterday the FB-ISAO published our February 2024 Newsletter, which is available to view on the FB-ISAO website and was distributed directly to members. Featured content includes an overview of 2023 threat data, a look into artificial intelligence and mapping tools, as well as upcoming events and initiatives from the ISAO.

Analyst Comments:

In addition to the noted stories, the Newsletter indicates that both the physical and cybersecurity threat levels have been set to “Elevated” which indicates that FBISAO is unaware of any specific events, but there is a concern that an event is more likely than normal.