Religious institutions and colleges are specific targets.
On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security issued a terrorism advisory warning of a “heightened threat environment.” Specifically, the threats target religious institutions and institutions of higher learning. The advisory comes in the wake of a man holding four members of a Texas synagogue hostage for several hours last month and days after bomb threats were made to historically black colleges and universities.
The advisory says the threat actors ”seek to exacerbate societal friction to sow discord and undermine public trust in government institutions to encourage unrest, which could potentially inspire acts of violence.” It continues, ”Mass casualty attacks and other acts of targeted violence conducted by lone offenders and small groups acting in furtherance of ideological beliefs and/or personal grievances pose an ongoing threat to the nation.”
A senior DHS official said that, although such acts have not significantly changed over the past year, that instigators of attacks are “calling people to use mass shootings, using vehicles, knife attacks, and [offering] some greater specificity in the types of targets they’re urging people to target.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For officials in the Department of Homeland Security as they address heightened threats of domestic terrorism.
- For those who work to keep college campuses and places of worship secure and safe.
- For federal, state, and local law enforcement as they seek to prevent such attacks.
Sources: The Hill, Department of Homeland Security, Newsmax
