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Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post

Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 18 March 2024

Faith-Based Security Headlines

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.

Targets of Violence: Homeland Security Safety Guide Aims to Help Houses of Worship Protect Themselves

The Milwaukee Independent reports on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Physical Security Performance Goals for Faith-Based Communities released in December 2023.

From the article:

David Mussington, who is in charge of infrastructure security at CISA, says the goal of the 16-page document is to give useable information in a format that is easy to understand.

“It’s designed to be clear, to be less jargon-filled and to provide guidance and assistance in getting assistance from us,” Mussington said.

There is also information about federal government grants that houses of worship can apply for to pay for security improvements as well as other resources the department has developed to help communities.

Analyst Comments:

Faith-Based Organizations (FBO) can use the 16-page Physical Security Performance Goals for Faith-Based Communities can be used to reduce physical security risks.

Recommended Actions are given for the following:

  • Identify
  • Protect
  • Detect
  • Respond
  • Recover

The Goals also provide links to numerous resources, including several federal grants.

FB-ISAO’s 6 December 2023 Daily Awareness Post reported on the Physical Security Performance Goals for Faith-Based Communities when it was released.

The December FB-ISAO blog quoted the DHS release announcement:

“While the threat environment continues to be challenging across all faiths, houses of worship and other faith-based organizations and people are often targets. Preparedness is key to mitigating risk,” said Mayya Saab, Executive Director of the Faith-Based Information Sharing and Analysis Organization  and DHS Faith-Based Security Advisory Council  member. “The Physical Security Performance Goals for Faith-Based Communities resource provides a visual guide to a goal setting activity that can help houses of worship and faith-based organizations prioritize security goals based on understanding their unique risk. The guide will be especially helpful to less resourced houses of worship.”

More Security-focused Content

Read more about the 2023 Threat Data and what the data tells us about the threat landscape.
Read the October 2023 Threat Level Statement Update
Access all-hazards resources from public and private sector partners, curated by the FB-ISAO team.

The FB-ISAO’s sponsor Gate 15 publishes a free daily newsletter called the SUN. Curated from their open source intelligence collection process, the SUN informs leaders and analysts with the critical news of the day and provides a holistic look at the current global, all-hazards threat environment. Ahead of the daily news cycle, the SUN allows current situational awareness into the topics that will impact your organization. To sign-up for The SUN, please sign up below.

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