A bipartisan group of U.S. House members urged the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security this week to fund the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NGSP), valued at
$50 million, as part of the fiscal year 2018 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill.
The group was led by U.S. Reps. Dan Donovan (R-NY) and Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ), with 110 other House members signing onto the letter.
Since Jan. 1, 116 Jewish communal institutions throughout 39 states received various types of threats, including more than 160 bomb threats.
“The NSGP program was designed to provide physical target hardening measures to protect against the threats the Department of Homeland Security has identified as of most concern to at-risk nonprofit institutions,” the letter said. “These include: explosive device, arson, active shooter, assassination/kidnapping, chemical/biological agents and cyber-attacks.”
The letter also cited a recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which showed a steep rise in the number of hate groups in the United States, 550 of which were deemed anti-Semitic in nature. It cited as many as 130 Ku Klux Klan-related groups, 100 white nationalist groups, and 99 neo-Nazi groups.
“The NSGP program supports the physical target hardening measures necessary to protect these facilities against threats and to mitigate the effects of an attack, including the installation of access controls, barriers, blast-proofing, monitoring and surveillance capability, and cyber security enhancements,” the letter said.