At a Time of Rising Antisemitism, America’s Houses of Worship Have Never Been More Vulnerable.

The federal government has quietly reduced one of the primary programs designed to protect America’s houses of worship.

In 2024, FEMA’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program provided roughly $454 million to help religious institutions and nonprofit organizations protect themselves against credible threats. The grants fund essential security upgrades such as surveillance systems, reinforced entrances, access controls, and active-threat training.

This year that funding has been cut to approximately $274 million.

That’s nearly a 40 percent reduction in the program designed to help protect synagogues, churches, schools, and community centers across the United States.

The program is administered by FEMA under the Department of Homeland Security. Recent leadership turmoil at DHS—including the firing of former Secretary Kristi Noem—only underscores the need for clarity and urgency when it comes to protecting America’s houses of worship.

The reduction might make sense if the threat environment had improved.

Since the October 7 war began, antisemitic incidents across the United States have surged. Jewish institutions have become visible targets of vandalism, threats, and violence. Security professionals warn that Jewish organizations are operating in one of the most elevated threat environments in decades.

At the same time, synagogues are doubling their efforts to hire armed guards. Jewish schools are conducting active-shooter drills. Community centers are reinforcing doors and installing controlled access points—security measures that once seemed unimaginable for institutions built around a simple constitutional promise: the freedom to practice one’s faith.

And yet the threats continue.

Case in point: last May, two young people—Israeli diplomat Yaron Lischinsky and American Jewish professional Sarah Milgrim—were murdered outside the Capital Jewish Museum after attending a Jewish event.

Washington is one of the most security-saturated cities in America.

And yet it still happened.

If a deadly attack can occur in the nation’s capital outside a Jewish cultural institution, then no synagogue, school, or community center in America can assume it is immune.

Security professionals understand a basic principle: resources should follow risk.

Congress should restore—and expand—the Nonprofit Security Grant Program so that houses of worship and community institutions have the resources necessary to protect the people who gather there.

But Washington cannot be the only answer.

Jewish history has taught us that the responsibility for Jewish safety ultimately begins with the Jewish community itself.

If the federal government can allocate $274 million to protect vulnerable nonprofits, the American Jewish community should challenge itself to match that investment. Security should not be treated as an emergency expense but as a permanent communal responsibility.

Yesterday I suggested something that may sound uncomfortable but deserves serious discussion: an organized Jewish civil-defense framework in the United States. Not a militia, but trained volunteers and staff working alongside law enforcement to help protect Jewish institutions.

When lives are at stake, preparedness cannot be half-measures.

Security should never be treated as an optional line item.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)