Bud Monaghan, the executive director of JFed Security for the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey — a division that oversees six Southern New Jersey federations and one for the entire state of Delaware — will have his team on high alert and in high visibility on Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel.
It’s the type of security presence that can help alleviate safety concerns that will be present throughout the Jewish community on Monday.
But Monaghan, the former chief of police in Cherry Hill who has had a lengthy career in law enforcement, knows the ultimate truth: The threat against the Jewish community never stops. It will be just as great — in some ways, greater — on Tuesday and on every other day of the year. That’s the reason Monaghan, his team of three deputies and 53 full-time officers, never rest.
“Our agency operates at a heightened sense of security. 365 days a year,” he said. “The Jewish community has the right to protect itself.”
It’s a right they are taking with emphasis.
“What really makes me proud is their proactive stance — taking ownership of their safety and security by making investments into this type of agency with federal and state grant funding, private donor support, JFNA LiveSecure support and other actions,” he said.
“They’re just not sitting back and waiting for something to happen, waiting to become a victim. They are doing everything they can to prevent it, so that they can go worship and celebrate the holidays freely, go to services on any given Saturday throughout the course of the year.”
The JFed Security team, which is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey — not a private company — started in November of 2021, when it was just Monaghan overseeing just one federation.
READ MORE:
Hardening a target: How one security team helps protect Jewish gathering places
Reflections: Thoughts on one-year anniversary of Oct. 7 attack
A team reviewing a grant request the group submitted, sent it back — suggesting they consider a regional approach. The Southern New Jersey Federation liked the idea, and quickly incorporated six other smaller federations in South Jersey (which did not have the means to start their own programs) and the Federation that covers the state of Delaware.
Monaghan said the regional approach has made it better for everyone because they have greater access to more resources — and information.
Here’s what the organization provides:
Security analysts: The group not only has a team of analysts monitoring threats to the community in social media and elsewhere, but it also works with analysts of other such organizations across New Jersey and across the region. It is in constant contact with local, state and federal law enforcement.
Security assessments: The group assists locations with threat vulnerability risk assessments, which coincide with their grant writing for national and state nonprofits for target hardening.
Actual security: The group’s 53 retired law enforcement officers operate as needed — but do so in constant contact, so there is continuity across the entire platform with respect to intelligence sharing.
The group also has purchased four portable weapon detection systems (think of advanced-level metal detectors) that the group is able to deploy to locations based upon an elevated-security risk, which could be the size of the crowd, the access to the event by the general public, the topic of discussion or simply a controversial speaker.
The devices can be programmed to recognized larger items (a handgun or bigger) while not being set off by a cell phone or a belt buckle — thus eliminating the need for backpack searches or other steps that create entry-way bottlenecks (a security issue itself).
Monaghan said the devices or expensive and their need is limited — certainly not enough to justify one location making a purchase. Being able to deploy them as needed is both a cost and a security benefit.
All of this takes the security being provided to another level — one that far surpasses what used to pass for internal defense, Monaghan said.
“Years ago, everything was reactionary: Put a guard at the door and hope the guard would be able to neutralize the situation if someone attempted to breach the perimeter of that facility,” he said. “Basically, it was a single layer of security. It is visible — people feel better when they see it – but it’s not really the be all, end all of security.”
It’s different now, Monaghan said.
“When you have the camera systems, when you have the blast-resistant film on the windows, when you have the bollards at locations, when you have intelligence gathering prior to large dates on the calendar, such as the high holidays, where you can put together the threat profile leading up to it — and then either enhance or reduce your security application based upon the information that you have on hand — it’s so much better,” he said.
Still.
“There’s no single layer of security standing on its own that is going to prevent everything,” Monaghan said.
Which brings us back to Oct. 7.
Any security expert will tell you that special events and anniversary often are the least-likely times for an attack — if the goal is to harm, doing it at times when it’s not expected are historically when attacks occur.
“It’s a balance,” he said. “We do add more guards this time of year at the request of locations, not necessarily because of what we see in the intelligence stream as a credible threat, but for psychological comfort.”
That being said, “lone-wolf” scenarios — those who might be driven to action at the spur of the moment — are a concern, both during an anniversary or during an attack, such as days when major incidents in Israel occur, Monaghan said.
“Something occurring in Israel is not going to automatically transfer to something happening here,” he said. “But there’s always the concern for someone who becomes emboldened or energized by something they see, and it propels them to want to take some type of action here.”
That’s where the visible presence and intelligence gathering comes into play, Monaghan said.
“We’re in constant communication with local, county, state and federal law enforcement,” he said. “If something were to happen, we will coordinate with local law enforcement within the towns that have synagogues, JCCs, etc. — and increase direct patrols.
It’s all part of the daily effort, 365 days a year, Monaghan said.
“There’s been a paradigm shift in how the community is protecting themselves,” he said. “We’re happy to do our part.”
