Paid subscribers make this work possible. Please consider upgrading your subscription. You Voted, I listened 780 people voted, with an overwhelming 85% voting to combine the roll call bulletin and the crime bulletin into one product. Find the Roll Call download below. ROLL CALL BRIEFING DOWNLOAD TERRORISM AND INTELLIGENCE Iran War Resumes and Widens as Its Proxies Strike Jewish Targets in the West The war between the United States and Iran has resumed and is widening. After the June memorandum of understanding collapsed, the United States launched fresh airstrikes on Iranian military sites, and Iran answered with missile strikes on American installations in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Jordan. Israeli intelligence reported an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump, who answered with a public warning of overwhelming retaliation. The danger reaches well beyond the battlefield. Since March, an Iranian proxy front called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, or HAYI, which United States prosecutors tie to the Revolutionary Guard and the Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah, has claimed roughly 20 attacks on Jewish targets across Europe, among them a synagogue bombing in Liège, Belgium, arson against Jewish sites in London and Rotterdam, and the stabbing of two Jewish men in London. In May, federal authorities charged a Kataib Hezbollah commander, Mohammad al-Saadi, with plotting to bring the campaign into the United States, including an attack on a New York City synagogue. This is a campaign against worship sites and against people in the West seen as aligned with Israel, and it relies on the same arson and small-arms methods a church security team already trains to counter. 🛡️ My thoughts: the expansion of the war cannot be understated. More than likely, we will continue it threat level orange for quite a while. I fully expect that synagogues will continue to be attacked. If you are a synagogue, and watching this, I would be at red the highest level. If you are a Christian Church openly supporting Israel, you should be a red also. Islamic State Is Calling for Attacks on Christians and Churches In Mastung, Balochistan, Pakistan, on July 9, the group’s Pakistan branch claimed a targeted shooting at a cricket ground that killed two Christian men, Ayush Masih, 21, and Domnik Masih, 24. Islamic State doctrine, restated across its recent output, frames Christians as targets for forced conversion, taxation, or death, and the group has repeatedly urged followers to burn churches and synagogues in the West. Its Easter propaganda this year did exactly that, calling on supporters across the United States and Europe to set them on fire. The incitement grew louder after the May 18 shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, an attack by two young white supremacists that killed three people, including the mosque’s security guard, and wounded another. In the days that followed, Islamic State supporter networks online called for retaliation against Christians, with one user urging an attack on a church and another threatening to kill Christian men. The realistic threat here is an inspired individual or small group hitting a soft target, which is what your team should be preparing against. 🛡️ My thoughts: ISIS does not have enough logistical support in the United States to carry out an attack. However, they are heavily relying on lone actors to attack churches in synagogues. They are pumping each other up on the dark web and on telegram channels. Expect continued attacks and assaults from these people. ISIS Detainees Confess to Church Bombing and Planned Attacks in Damascus, Syria Detainees held in Syria confessed to involvement in the Mar Elias Church bombing and to other planned attacks, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. One detainee said an ISIS operative had outlined a plan to attack Mar Elias Church by opening fire on those inside. The confessions were reported by state media this week. The disclosures point to continued ISIS targeting of Christian sites in the country. Syrian authorities said the investigation was ongoing. 🛡️ My thoughts: You need to watch these types of attacks. Even though this may not concern us because it is in the Middle East in a country we probably don't care about, it shows you exactly how they are going to carry out and attack here in the United States if they want to make it happen. Study these, and then put them in your scenario portfolio to play out in future training. Jihadist Groups Have Begun Using AI Tools to Plan Attacks A study from the University of Cambridge found that both factions of Boko Haram, the Islamic State affiliate ISWAP and the JAS faction, have built commercial AI chatbots into their operations for attack planning, explosive device design, weapons troubleshooting, and operational security. The know-how was passed in person by Islamic State operatives moving through Libya, Iraq, and other nodes, and dedicated AI units now sit inside ISWAP’s command structure. The finding is significant for two reasons. It shortens the distance between a group deciding to attack and being able to plan and build for one, and the groups leading this adoption are the same ones calling for and carrying out attacks on Christians in Africa and abroad. Weapons Staged at a Paris Synagogue as Threats to Worship Sites Stay High French counterterrorism prosecutors opened a terrorism investigation after authorities found a loaded rifle and a handgun staged in a vehicle outside a synagogue in Sarcelles, near Paris, and evacuated 300 people from the neighborhood. United States and allied agencies spent the week reminding first responders that congregations and the people who lead them remain deliberate targets. With the World Cup Final on July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the America 250 events, and the Jewish fast of Tisha B’Av on July 22 and 23, large public gatherings and religious sites stay at heightened risk through the end of the month. 🛡️ My thoughts: the attack continue to be thwarted. This is a win for the good guys. It some point they are going to break through though. Use this as an example of the things that you need to look for while you stand post outside. Anything suspicious should be checked trust your instinct. It is usually the Lord talking to you and not your “instinct.” I was a successful police officer because I listened to the voice in my head. At the time, I did not realize it was the Lord talking to me. I absolutely realize it now, though. Trust those thoughts. VIOLENT CRIME Suspicious Device Placed at Church During Sunday Service in Alabaster Township, Michigan Tawas City police were called to Alabaster Bible Church on Benson Road in Alabaster Township, Michigan, shortly before 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 12, after a report of a possible bomb inside the building. Witnesses said a person walked into the church during the service, set a bag down near the entrance, and left immediately. Congregants who looked inside reported seeing what appeared to be a small box with wires and a possible triggering device, and called 911. The Michigan State Police bomb squad examined the package and determined it did not pose a threat. Police said there was no ongoing danger but asked anyone with information to come forward, and the investigation remains open. Source 🛡️ My thoughts: this is an interesting case. This could just be a mentally ill person, or it could be a person thinking it's a funny joke. It could also be a test to see how we respond. Never discount incident like this. If this happens at your church, treat it like it is a real device. Fleeing Car Crashes Into Church After Gunfire in New Castle, Pennsylvania A disturbance involving gunfire in Union Township ended with a fleeing car crashing into Trinity Episcopal Church in New Castle, Pennsylvania. One person was sent to the hospital as a result of the crash. Local reporting described the sequence as an escape attempt that ended at the church building. The incident was reported this week. Source 🛡️ My thoughts: how often are you seeing me publish a violent crime that happens elsewhere that ends at the church? It's pretty frequent, isn't it? You should take notice of this is our planning on what to do if a similar incident happens to your church. I use Tactical visualization. Basically, I look at an incident like this and start thinking about what I'm going to do. When I'm driving, I just start thinking of incidents like this and thinking of how I'm going to respond. As an example, I always looked at a 711 on my beat when I was a younger officer and think about how I would respond if I saw an armed robber coming out as I was driving by. I thought about what to do hundreds of times over the next several years. Sure enough, one day I drove by and an armed robber was running out of that 711. He went exactly to the place I thought and my Tactical visualization that a suspect would go and I cornered him. I did everything that I had planned out over the years. It went off flawlessly with nobody being hurt. I don't know how that would've ended out. Had I not use Tactical visualization. It is a wonderful tool that has been used for over a century. SEX CRIMES Former Youth Pastor Arrested on 90 Counts of Child Molestation in Bossier Parish, Louisiana The Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested David Mercer, 72, of Folsom, Louisiana, following an investigation into multiple child sex offenses spanning decades. Mercer was booked into the Bossier Parish Maximum Security Facility on July 11 on 90 counts of forcible fondling and molestation of a juvenile, and was held on a $2.5 million bond. Investigators say Mercer served as a youth pastor in northwest Louisiana and in southeast Missouri during the 1990s, and that the alleged offenses date back more than 30 years. Detectives from multiple jurisdictions are working the case as additional victims are identified. The
