Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 29 August 2023

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.

Update to Yesterday’s (8-28-23) Faith-Based Security Headlines

Neo-Nazis Repeatedly Targeted Jacksonville Before Mass Shooting

“Months before a gunman fired a swastika-covered rifle at Black shoppers in a Jacksonville, Florida Dollar General on Saturday, a white supremacist group spray-painted its logo and “reclaim America” on a city billboard.

“A different white supremacist group posted racist stickers around Jacksonville months before that. Weeks earlier, a third white supremacist group projected a swastika onto a Jacksonville building, following a fourth white supremacist group that also used a laser projector to beam its own antisemitic message onto a Jacksonville building in late 2022.”

“Saturday’s mass shooting, by a white gunman reported to have penned racist manifestos, was the latest incident in a drumbeat of racist violence targeting Jacksonville. Some of those displays have been “brazen,” part of an effort to terrorize minority communities in Florida, human rights organizations say.”

Analyst Comment:

Like any organization or group under threat, Faith-Based Organizations (FBO) should be aware of threatening demonstrations, graffiti, and social media. These threatening activities may influence an unbalanced person to carry out an actual attack. Additionally, domestic violent extremists have routinely exploited lawful public assemblies, including protests, rallies, and demonstrations to incite violence or conduct attacks in furtherance of their ideological agendas. An increase in threatening or suspicious activities may also indicate that a group or individual is planning an attack. FBOs need to monitor local and national threat indicators and consider increasing security measures when threat indicators increase.

Also, Security guard details encounter with alleged Jacksonville gunman prior to racially motivated shooting.

“But (Lt. Antonio Bailey) rejected the ‘hero’ label, praising the students who flagged him down and alerted him about the suspicious campus intruder they spotted wearing a bulletproof vest, latex gloves and a mask. ‘We preach if you see something, say something. And they did just that,’ Bailey said.”

Analyst Comment:

While tragically, three innocent people died at the Dollar General store; there may have been a much higher loss of life at Edward Waters University if some students had not alerted security personnel. The attacker left the campus when approached by the security officer. 

FB-ISAO is offering an educational session on suspicious activity reporting on 04 October at 12pm ET. The session is open to members of FB-ISAO. Membership information is here. The session will include a discussion of

• We have myriad reasons not to report, however, time and time again saying something has averted a hostile event.
• What’s the point before SARS and how do intelligence analysts use them.

And, Statement on the FBI Response to the Shooting in Jacksonville, Florida — FBI

Director Christopher Wray, Associate Deputy Director Brian Turner, and other FBI officials led a national partner call today that included leaders in the faith and civil rights communities, leaders of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and our law enforcement and public safety partners to discuss the tragic shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, that occurred over the weekend.

“From everything we know now, this was a targeted attack—a hate crime that was racially motivated,” said Director Wray. “It’s my hope that by sharing this common operating picture, we can use our collective strengths to fully investigate the attacker’s heinous intentions, to move forward and prevent future acts of violence, and to achieve justice for all those who have been affected by this horrific act.”

The Gate 15 Interview: Jeff Troy, President, Aviation ISAC, on public service, cybersecurity, understanding threats (and… colonizing the ocean?)

In this episode of The Gate 15 Interview, Andy Jabbour visits with Jeff Troy, President, CEO at Aviation Information Sharing and Analysis Center (A-ISAC). Over the past five years, Jeff has led the Aviation ISAC, a trust-based community focused on the sharing of threat intelligence and best practices.

“The most important thing (for an effective info sharing community)… we’ve stayed true to our core values”   – JEFF TROY

In the discussion Andy and Troy address:

• Serving in the FBI and ideas for young people thinking about their futures
• Transitioning from the public sector to the private sector
• Key ideas on how to build a successful information sharing community
• Understanding how to think about threats
• Responsibly and thoughtfully reducing risk and building resilience
• Blended Threats
• The importance of patching and baking security into technology
• The upcoming Aviation ISAC Summit in Ireland
• The Ocean State
• Deep ocean colonies
• More!