II – Aware

Counterterrorism Guide: Situational Awareness to Hinder An Attack

The Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team (JCAT) is a US interagency collaboration based at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which is aligned under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

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Working with intelligence analysts from NCTC, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), JCAT’s primary mission is to improve counterterrorism information sharing between federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government agencies and the private sector. The latter is where that information is adaptable for personal self-defense and church security teams in being situationally aware to pre-indicators of criminal and terroristic attacks.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of SITUATIONAL AWARENESS ]

One resource is JCAT’s Counterterrorism Guide For Public Safety Personnel, offering content to assist self-defenders and church safety volunteers in:

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US Secret Service Threat Assessment Church Case Study Links Domestic Violence with Mass Attacks

The US Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) has published, First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs: A Case Study on the Link Between Domestic Violence and Mass Attacks.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Criminals and Terrorists Overwhelmingly Select Gun-Free Zones For Mass Attacks in Public Spaces ]

The 40-page report examines the background and behavioral history of the gunman who killed 26 people, including his wife’s grandmother, and wounded an additional 22 others in the attack at the church in Texas on November 5, 2017.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Church Shooting Analysis Reports ]

The attacker had a long history of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual violence perpetrated against friends, family members, and others.

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Understand the Times and Know What to Do

The Bible’s books of First & Second Samuel and First & Second Chronicles recount ancient Israel as heavily defended by tribal influence and force.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of SPIRITUAL FITNESS ]

The country’s first king, Saul, rallied his fighting coalition to ward off the nation’s enemies. However, his reign began to end when he disobeyed God, and the young David became the LORD‘s anointed.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Church Security Review: House of Worship Firearms and Use of Force Policy ]

God selected the shepherd-poet to become a warrior of national renown, beginning with defending Israel by dispatching the Philistine Goliath with slingshot precision and beheading him. David describes his expertise with defensive weapons in 2 Samuel 22:35, which states, “He trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze” and is repeated in Psalm 18:34. And he reiterates it in Psalm 144:1, “Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.”

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Practical Situational Awareness Training: Prepare for the Ambush

Situational awareness is often described by suggested methods of observation in color-coded categories of perception: observing surroundings to avoid trouble; locating exits in a room to quickly escape trouble; or achieving advance knowledge of travel routes to change course in the event of sudden trouble.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Jeff Cooper’s Principles of Personal Defense ]

The familiar color-code is White for “totally unaware,” Yellow for “relaxed but aware,” Orange for “potential threat identified,” and Red for “threat verified, engage self-defense action.”

[ Read the SemperVerus article, A Simple Chart for Situational Awareness ]

Professional firearms trainer, author, consultant, and executive director for PersonalDefenseNetwork.com, Rob Pincus, identifies one area that might too often be overlooked; he calls it the “fantasy of situational awareness.”

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