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Tuesday, October 31, 2023

A New Secure Community Network (SCN) For American Jews Since 2004

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

Michael G. Masters is the National Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Secure Community Network (SCN), founded in 2004;  the official homeland security and safety organization of The Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.  Michael as worked on this for the past 19 years.  

They have built a shield over Jewish communities.  It saved lives in the Texas Synagogue attack.  It happened last year on the 23rd of January.  When the survivors of last weekend’s attack on a Texas synagogue talk about why they’re alive today, they point to two factors.

One is the work of law enforcement. 

The second is the training and preparation they 

got from the Secure Community Network, a 

nonprofit safety and training organization that is 

“working to build a protective,

proactive shield over the North American Jewish community,” as its national director and CEO told

CNN.

Prior to joining SCN, Mr. Masters served as the Senior Vice President of The Soufan Group, a strategic advisory firm that assists public and private sector organizations to address emergent threats, and as the CEO of CivicScape, an advanced analytics company.

Did you know about this organization who is providing security for Jews?  The Secure Community Network (SCN), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, is the official homeland security and safety initiative of the organized Jewish community in North America. Founded in 2004, under the auspices of The Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, SCN serves as the central organization dedicated exclusively to the safety and security of the American Jewish community, working across 146 federations, 50 partner organizations, over 300 independent communities as well as with other partners in the public, private, non-profit and academic sectors.

It was just May 25, 2023 that  the Biden-Harris Administration was releasing the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. This strategy includes over 100 new actions the Administration will take to raise awareness of antisemitism and its threat to American democracy, protect Jewish communities, reverse the normalization of antisemitism, and build cross-community solidarity.  The United States has recently experienced an alarming increase in antisemitic incidents, among other acts of hatred. American Jews account for 2.4% of the U.S. population, but they are the victims of 63% of reported religiously motivated hate crimes, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  A lot has happened such as October 7, 2023 in Israel, the attack of Hamas on civilian homes and citizens when 1,400 Jews were slaughtered. All over the world one sees people siding with Hamas and causing anti-semitic attacks on nearby Jews.    

Through its operations center and Duty Desk, SCN provides timely, credible threat and incident information to both law enforcement and community partners, serves as the community’s formal liaison with federal law enforcement and coordinates closely with state and local law enforcement partners. SCN works with communities and partners across North America to develop and implement strategic frameworks that enhance safety and security of the Jewish people, developing best practice policies and procedures, undertaking threat and vulnerability assessments, coordinating training and education, offering consultation on safety and security matters and providing crisis management support during critical incidents.


Mr. Masters previously served as the Executive Director of the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for Cook County, Illinois, as the Chief of Staff for the Chicago Police Department and as an assistant to former Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Mr. Masters has held faculty appointments at both the John Marshall School of Law and at Northeastern University, serves on a number of Task Forces for the United States Department of Homeland Security, previously served on the Executive Board of the FBI’s Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Force, and sits on the Boards of a number of non-profit and civic organizations.

A Truman and a Gates Cambridge Trust Scholar, Mr. Masters received his B.A. from the University of Michigan, MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he served as managing editor for the Harvard International Law Journal.

Certified as a sworn peace officer and SWAT operator, Masters served as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps.                              

He has outstanding credentials.  The Middle East Forum has an article saying that Michael G. Masters, director and CEO of the Secure Community Network (SCN), the official safety and security organization of Jewish organizations in North America, has also served on the payroll of the Soufan Group, a company that provides security consulting, training, and military advising to Qatar, a key sponsor of Hamas.

The Middle East Forum is an American conservative think tank founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, who serves as its president. MEF became an independent non-profit organization in 1994. It publishes a journal, the Middle East Quarterly. I trust Daniel Pipes and know it is a dependable and honest source.  

Ali H. Soufan (born 1971) is a Lebanese-American former FBI agent who was involved in a number of high-profile anti-terrorism cases both in the United States and around the world. A 2006 New Yorker article described Soufan as coming closer than anyone to preventing the September 11 attacks and implied that he would have succeeded had the CIA been willing to share information with him. He resigned from the FBI in 2005 after publicly chastising the CIA for not sharing intelligence with him which could have prevented the attacks.  In 2011, Soufan published a memoir which includes some historical background on al-QaedaThe Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda. In 2017, he published Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of Bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State.

 He is the CEO of The Soufan Group and founder of The Soufan Center, "a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving as a resource and forum for research, analysis, and strategic dialogue related to global security issues and emergent threats." Soufan is a Phi Kappa Theta alumnus and winner of the Kennedy award in 2018.  Masters was vice president of the Soufan Group.  

Soufan resigned from the FBI in 2005 and founded the Soufan Group. He continues to be frequently called upon to serve as an expert commentator. Soufan was a former member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

"Why, then, has Mr. Masters been part of management and on the payroll of a company (the Soufan Group) that provides security consulting, training, and military advising to Qatar, a key sponsor of Hamas?"  Daniel Pipes asks this question.

 My input is this:    Qatar is not a 2-faced country;  it is at least a 5-faced country, doing business with everyone.  They are the money country, the country helping to get the hostages out of Gaza.

 What bothered me about Qatar long ago was their radio/TV program that Qaradawi used to announce his his hatred for Jews and Israel from Qatar.  "Yusuf al-Qaradawi was an Egyptian Islamic scholar based in Doha, Qatar, and chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars. His influences included Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim, Sayyid Rashid Rida, Hassan al-Banna, Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi, Abul A'la Maududi and Naeem Siddiqui."  He died September 26, 2022 at the age of 96, spewing hatred all those years.  

In December of 2022, President Biden established the Interagency Policy Committee on Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Related Forms of Bias and Discrimination, led by the White House Domestic Policy Council and National Security Council. As its first order of business, President Biden tasked this group with producing the first-ever U.S. national strategy to counter antisemitism in the United States.

To support the whole-of-society call to action, today the Biden-Harris Administration also announced commitments to counter antisemitism and build cross-community solidarity by organizations across the private sector, civil society, religious and multi-faith communities, and higher education.  This is where so much hatred is coming from, our colleges and universities, especially certain professors who teach false facts leading to anti-Semitism.  

Today’s announcements include commitments from the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Asian American Foundation, Black Jewish Entertainment Alliance, College of William & Mary, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Foundation to Combat Antisemitism alongside six professional sports leagues, Interfaith Alliance, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, National Action Network, National Basketball Players Association, National Urban League, Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab at American University, Recording Academy, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, Sikh Coalition, Southern Poverty Law Center, and UnidosUS. The Administration calls on additional organizations to join this existing group in establishing their own impactful initiatives to counter antisemitism.

  Right now Hezbollah terrorists of Lebanon, an arm of Iran and the Ayatollah's hatred for Jews and Israel, are shelling Israel, another front to fight besides Gazan Hamas terrorists. 

                                            

NYPD officers work to restore order in Times Square, New York on May 20, 2021, as violence erupts during Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestinians protests in connection with the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Steve Sanchez/Pacific Press/Shutterstock

  

The ADL is the Anti-Defamation League is a New York-based international Jewish non-governmental organization and advocacy group that specializes in civil rights law and combats antisemitism and extremism. It was founded in late September 1913 by the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, a Jewish service organization, in the wake of the contentious murder conviction of Leo Frank

A group of people are seen as a Jewish man is assaulted amid pro-Israel and pro-Palestine protests in Times Square, New York, on May 20, 2021, in an image taken from video made on the scene and posted to Twitter by a witness.  Rob Bertrand via Twitter


Has this replaced the Jewish Defense League?  (JDL)  The Jewish Defense League started in 1968 in Los Angeles  is a Jewish far-right religious-political organization in the United States and Canada, whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary" Rabbi Meir Kahane started this one..It petered out in 1995.  Meir Kahane, who, in 1990, was assassinated in New York by an Arab extremist. He had worked on his own, and was extreme.  

                                             

What we needed was Superman, who incidentally, was a creation of two Jewish fellows, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster.  Superman, in turn, was a copy of the Jewish folklore hero, The Golem, who according to Czech legend, the Golem was fashioned from clay and brought to life by a rabbi to protect Prague's 16th-century ghetto from persecution.


Incidents of antisemitic hate were up sharply in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest as a whole in 2022, according to new data from the ADL Pacific Northwest, a regional chapter of a national anti-hate group.  Reports of antisemitism up 63% in the Pacific Northwest in 2022; resistance is up too.  The ADL recorded 40 incidents of antisemitic hate in Oregon in its 2022 audit, the most ever, and 65 incidents in Washington, also a record. Reported incidents were up 36% nationally, according to the ADL.


Resource;

https://www.securecommunitynetwork.org/about#:~:text=Founded%20in%202004%2C%20under%20the,across%20146%20federations%2C%2050%20partner

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/23/us/secure-community-network-jewish-security/index.html

https://cns.kentlaw.iit.edu/leadership/michael-g-masters/

https://www.opb.org/article/2023/03/23/reports-of-antisemitism-up-63-in-the-pacific-northwest-in-2022-resistance-is-up-too/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Defense_League

https://www.adl.org/resources/profile/jewish-defense-league

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/25/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-releases-first-ever-u-s-national-strategy-to-counter-antisemitism/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_Forum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Soufan

https://mail.yahoo.com/d/folders/1/messages/191092



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