Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 17 July 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.

FB-ISAO Releases an All-Faiths Analysis of Attacks on U.S. Houses of Worship in 2023

EINPRESSWIRE distributed information on FB-ISAO’s Analsyis-and-Review-of-Attacks-on-Houses-of-Worship-in-2023. The report is a comprehensive look at open-source data for all faiths. This is important because other groups only catalogue data for singular faith traditions.

A video explainer and presentation of the data is included with the press release.  Ed Heyman, Co-Chair of the FB-ISAO Operational Resilience Working Group explains the methodology used for collecting the data, as well as an in-depth review of the data. 

The report, which includes key findings and implications for securing houses of worship, is available here. Some notable findings include:

• The distribution of attacks on houses of worship is hugely disproportional – 51% of attacks occurred against faiths that represent less than 10% of the total houses of worship – and are clustered in just 9 states.
• Attack types vary by region and faith. Firearms and bladed weapons are reported in fewer than 10% of incidents. The most common weapons reported are also the most commonly available: fists and common everyday objects found on-scene, including rocks, bricks, spray paint, work tools, and other blunt objects.
• Ninety-five percent (95%) of attacks produce no casualties, and those incidents that resulted in injuries most often occurred outside the house of worship, in the parking lot or elsewhere on the grounds.

“Access to data like this allows us to focus our security resources where they will have the greatest impact on the safety and wellbeing of our members,” said Andy Jabbour, Senior Advisor to the FB-ISAO. “I commend the efforts of FB-ISAO and the ORG to develop this unique and important analysis which assists security leaders with understanding the ever-changing threat and risk landscape. This analysis should give leaders the information they need to prioritize limited time and resources and to help inform the development of plans, training and exercises to reduce risk and protect their people and places. The mission, and work, of the FB-ISAO is to provide information to inform resilience activities and thus help protect the free practice of faith.”

Analyst Comments:

As is stated above by Andy Jabbour, the report can be used by Faith-Based Organization (FBO) to understand the ever-changing threat and risk landscape. FBO leaders should consider using this information to prioritize limited time and resources.

Members of the FB-ISAO have access to additional resources, like the above report. FB-ISAO produces timely alerts, including Bulletins, Pass Throughs from other security organizations, Daily Awareness Posts, Weekly Advisories, Weekly Scoops, Newsletters, and Announcements.

Also, FB-ISAO members are sharing information about threats in FB-ISAO Slack.

FB-ISAO also offers educational sessions and other activities to assist Faith-Based Organizations in preparedness and mitigation. 

If not already a member, consider joining here.