Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 16 December 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.

Initial Reporting on Abundant Life Christian School Shooting

Initial reports are two fatalities, and six students injured. A higher death toll was reported earlier.  The shooter is also deceased. It is reported that a juvenile, possibly a student, used a handgun.

Analyst Comments:

Sadly, another Community of Faith’s school has been the victim of a school shooter.

While all the facts are not available, the incident shows the need to secure schools operated by Faith-Based Organizations.

There are many resources available to help protect Community of Faith schools.

The following are useful as a quick review for those involved in school security:

• The FBI provides Hide. Fight information on their Active Shooter Safety Resources website.
• CISA: Active Shooter Pocket Card
• STOP THE BLEED

The following can be used for initial long-term plan development or improving current plans:

• CISA K-12 School Security Guide
• CISA K-12 School Security Assessment Tool User Guide
• CISA K-12 School Security Assessment Tool Technical Appendix

• S. Secret Service’s USSS Averting Targeted School Violence.2021
• FEMA’s You Are the Help Until Help Arrives

• FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) Course | IS-904: Active Shooter Prevention: You Can Make a Difference
• CISA’s Conflict Prevention website
• The CISA Active Shooter Emergency Action Plan Product Suite website provides the Active-Shooter-Emergency-Action-Plan pdf and Active-Shooter-Emergency-Action-Plan-Template

As always, Faith-Based ISAO’s website provides resources in the Resource Library, including information on:

• Securing School Facilities and Students

On the Release of the 2023 Country Reports on Terrorism

The Department of State has issued the 2023 Country Reports on Terrorism (CRT), which provide a detailed look at how the counterterrorism environment and associated threats have evolved over the past year, fulfilling an important Congressional mandate.  Each year, the CRT provides insight on important issues in the fight against terrorism and helps the United States make informed decisions about policies, programs, and resource allocations as we seek to build counterterrorism capacity and resilience around the globe.

Amid a constantly changing threat landscape, the CRT provides an overview of how we marshal international efforts to counter terrorism.  Among the many accomplishments highlighted in the 2023 report are our efforts to refine the focus of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS to address new regions of concern; the continued designation of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist groups and their leaders; and the repatriation of more than 5,500 foreign terrorist fighters from detention facilities and associated family members from displaced persons camps in northeast Syria.

As the United States adapts its counterterrorism approach to keep pace with evolving threats, the CRT continues to serve as a valuable resource in assessing the global terrorism landscape.

The 2023 Country Reports on Terrorism are available here.

Related Items:

Introductory Remarks: The Future of U.S. Counterterrorism Policy

Analyst Comments:

Anyone involved with security of overseas operations can look up individual countries on the Country Reports on Terrorism 2023 website.

Reminder – DHS Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships: CP3 101

From the DHS announcement:

This ‘CP3101’ will provide an overview of the mission and activities of CP3, and go through the resources that CP3 can provide or recommend so that you can be an effective prevention provider. 

Wed, Dec 18

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST

Online event

REGISTER HERE

The full webinar announcement was highlighted in the 6 December 2024 Daily Awareness Post