Chicago —In the Secure Community Network command center in Chicago, threats to the nation’s Jewish community are mapped from coast to coast.
The command center is overseen by Brad Orsini, a retired FBI agent who helped investigate the 9/11 attacks.
“Simply put, the Secure Community Network is the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security of the Jewish community,” Orsini told CBS News.
Last year, the SCN detected more than 5,000 threats and sent more than 1,600 tips to law enforcement.
“Who is that person over there who is the next attacker, and that’s really what we’re looking for,” Orsini says.
Director Michael Masters leads a team of analysts who don’t need warrants to follow leads.
“We can also have active tools in our command center to monitor the deep web and the dark web,” Masters said.
Founded in 2004, SCN took off after the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.
The tragedy is now etched in the memory of Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who heard that 11 of his congregants had been shot.
“To some extent, the pain never goes away,” Myers said. “It’s like a nightmare.”
He attributes his own survival to the safety training provided by Orsini.
“I wouldn’t be alive without this training,” Myers said.
The SCN now conducts active shooter trainings at synagogues and Jewish centers across the country, and Orsini says threats have exploded Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Anti-Defamation League has recorded 8,873 anti-Semitic incidents in 2023, including harassment, vandalism and assaults. This is the highest number since the organization began recording such incidents in 1979.
For Myers, the threats are a grim reminder.
“There is no sanctuary anymore. There is no safe place of worship anymore.”
