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On Friday, Senate Republican appropriators unveiled a long-delayed Homeland Security bill for fiscal 2026, recommending $65.95 billion in discretionary funding, a slight decrease from the House version.

The bill lacked bipartisan support (particularly over border security, immigration enforcement, and detention provisions) and had no committee markup.

While the House version also lacked bipartisan support, it was reported out of committee in June on a party-line vote.

The House bill contains $335 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. The Senate bill includes $330 million.

Should the competing bills get to a bi-cameral conference (formally or informally) to work out competing differences, the NSGP funding level will likely fall between the narrow margin of difference between the bills.

This all but closes the door on securing the $500 million NSGP allies in Congress and stakeholder advocates have pursued.

When Congress returns from its holiday the first week in January, they will have a little more than 3 weeks to complete the outstanding FY 2026 Appropriations bills before the current temporary funding extension (Continuing Resolution) runs out.

For many years, the Homeland Security spending bill has been one of the hardest for both parties to agree on, and this year’s partisan disagreements are significant and could very well result in another year-long funding extension as a result. If this were to occur, NSGP would be expected to be flat funded again at $274.5 million.

[Note: In 2024, NSGP received an annual appropriation of $274.5 million. But the total amount Congress made available to NSGP that year was significantly boosted by a one-time national security supplemental (HR 815) of $400 million. The total of $674.5 million dwarfed any previous year’s appropriation for NSGP.]

Best,

Rob Goldberg
Principal
Goldberg & Associates LLC
In Partnership with Sphere State

The post Homeland Security Appropriations Update appeared first on Sphere State Group.

Congress established the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2004, as the first singular program to provide for the security of the Jewish community and faith-based and other at-risk nonprofit institutions.

The Jewish community led on the program’s inception because targeted attacks on synagogues and Jewish Community Centers became a security risk of national importance post-September 11 attacks.

I had already been working with Congress to develop the NSGP program in the winter of 2001, which took on new urgency in June 2002, when the FBI warned that Al-Qaida might attack Jewish targets with gas trucks, leading to widespread concern and need for heightened security in Jewish communities nationwide. (See: JTA, “Jewish vigilance high after FBI warning,” June 25, 2002; Link: https://www.jta.org/2002/06/25/lifestyle/jewish-vigilance-high-after-fbi-warning.) This incident became a unifying catalyst among Jewish communal advocates to secure enactment of NSGP legislation nearly two years later.

Since then, and too frequently, Jewish communal and other faith-based and nonprofits have been targets of foreign terrorist organizations, homegrown violent extremists, racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, and grievance-driven malicious actors.

The Israel-Hamas war has been a particularly pivotal event that has triggered an escalation of violence in communities throughout the country and globally – and also targeting Muslim and Arab communities at home.
In May, Elias Rodriguez was charged with federal and local murder offenses in connection with the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy staff members outside the Jewish National Museum in Washington, D.C. Moments after the shooting, Rodriguez entered the museum, displayed a red keffiyeh and allegedly said, “I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza.” (See: U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia, “Federal Hate Crime and First-Degree Murder Charges Filed Against Alleged Killer of Israeli Embassy Staff Members,” August 7, 2025; Link: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/federal-hate-crime-and-first-degree-murder-charges-filed-against-alleged-killer-israeli.)

In June, Mohammed Sabry Soliman was charged with 12 hate crimes and murder for throwing incendiary devices at individuals participating in a pro-Israel gathering near the Boulder, Colorado, Courthouse. 82-year-old Karen Diamond, died of her injuries. When throwing one of the Molotov cocktails, Soliman reportedly shouted, “Free Palestine!” Investigators recovered a handwritten document recovered from the vehicle driven by Soliman that  included the following statements: “Zionism is our enemies untill [sic] Jerusalem is liberated and they are expelled from our land,” and further described Israel as a “cancer entity. (See: Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “Alleged Perpetrator of Terror Attack in Colorado Charged with Hate Crimes,” June 25, 2025; Link: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/alleged-perpetrator-terror-attack-colorado-charged-hate-crimes.)

Also in June, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was extradited to the United States from Canada, in connection with charges he attempted to enter the United States to commit a mass shooting on a Jewish community center in Brooklyn, New York. Khan allegedly planned to carry out this attack “on or around Oct. 7, 2024 — which Khan recognized as the one-year anniversary of the brutal terrorist attacks in Israel by Hamas.” (See: Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “Pakistani National Extradited to Face Charges in Connection with Plot to Carry Out ISIS-Inspired Mass Shooting at Jewish Center in New York City,” June 10, 2025; Link: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/pakistani-national-extradited-face-charges-connection-plot-carry-out-isis-inspired-mass.)

Jewish and other religious holidays, including Chanukah and Christmas, have also occasioned terrorist threats and attacks.

In August, Mufid Fawaz Alkhader was sentenced to 10 years in prison for, in part, twice firing a shotgun while standing outside the entrance to Temple Israel in Albany, New York, during Chanukah 2023. During the incident he was allegedly “shouting ‘Free Palestine!’” It was reported that “As a result of Alkhader’s actions, Temple Israel was forced to cancel a planned concert and candle lighting ceremony to celebrate Chanukah that evening, and its congregants were afraid to return to their place of worship.” See: Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “New York Man Sentenced for Firearm and Religious Hate Crimes Involving the Firing of Shots Outside of Temple Israel in Albany,” August 12, 2025; Link: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/new-york-man-sentenced-firearm-and-religious-hate-crimes-involving-firing-shots-outside.)

In the U.S. in 2023, the Jewish community faced an already elevated and increasing threat level even before the major spike in antisemitism that occurred (and has been sustained) after the October 7 Hamas attack on Isreal. February, March, April, May, and September 2023 each broke the prior record for the most antisemitic incidents recorded in a single month in ADL’s history. According to the ADL, February, March, April, May, and September 2023 each broke the prior record for the most antisemitic incidents recorded in a single month in ADL’s history. (See: ADL, “Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2023,” April 16, 2024; Link: https://www.adl.org/resources/report/audit-antisemitic-incidents-2023.) These elevated months coincided with the 2023 Jewish holidays of Purim, Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashannah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot.

The December 14, deadly mass casualty attack targeting Chanukah celebrants in Sydney, Australia, has placed US cities on alert. For instance, the New York Policy Department issued a post-incident assessment that found “there have been at least 48 major incidents targeting synagogues and Jewish community events worldwide, since the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led mass casualty attacks against Israel.” They further assessed that the December 14 attack “and its perpetrators will likely be praised and exploited by a variety of violent extremists to justify or incite similar acts of terrorism against the Jewish community.” (Source: NYPD Shield Post-Attack Assessment, “Mass Casualty Terrorist Attack Targets Hannukah Celebration on Australia’s Bondi Beach,” December 14, 2025.)

2025 has been particularly violent and NYPD’s assessment includes advice that tracks long-standing recommendations: Jewish communal and other faith-based and nonprofit institutions should employ access denial and target hardening measures, tabletop exercises, and emergency protocol/response drills. These are the very investments FEMA’s Nonprofit Security Grant Programs support.

With wave after wave of antisemitic attacks and hate crimes that have occurred in 2025, Congress will return for the second session of the 119th Congress on January 5, 2026, with a number of unfinished nonprofit security measures to consider, including:

– The FY 2026 NSGP program funding. New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are seeking $500 million. This would constitute a $225.5 million increase above the $274.5 million appropriated level in 2025.

– The “Pray Safe Act” (H.R. 5645). New York Representatives Grace Meng (D-NY-6), Michael Lawler (R-NY-17), and Daniel Goldman (D-NY-10) are leading on this bipartisan bill, which would establish a federal clearinghouse through which faith-based organizations, houses of worship, and other nonprofits can access information on safety and security best practices, available federal grant programs, and training opportunities.

[I note that in 2019, another deadly Chanukah attack took place in Rep. Lawler’s district, had served to amplify calls from community members and leaders around the country to increase federal funding and actions to protect at-risk nonprofit organizations. (See: JTA, “After a machete stabbing on Hanukkah, Monsey’s Orthodox Jews are defiant but searching for answers,” December 29, 2919; Link: https://www.jta.org/2019/12/29/united-states/after-a-machete-stabbing-on-hanukkah-monseys-orthodox-jews-are-defiant-but-searching-for-answers.)]

– The “DHS Grants Accountability Act” (H.R.6507). New York Representative Timothy Kennedy (D-NY-26) is the author of this bill, which would ensure greater accountability, predictability, and transparency at FEMA over its administration of the State and local preparedness (including NSGP), transit, and port security grant programs.

Of the more than 11 thousand hate crimes (with close to 14 thousand victims) reported by the FBI in 2024, religious bias crimes in 2024 represented 23.5% of all hate crimes reported. Although Jews only make up around 2 percent of the U.S. population, anti-Jewish hate crimes comprised 16 percent of all reported hate crimes and nearly 70 percent of all reported religion-based hate crimes in 2024, slightly higher than the prior year.

In 2025 (as recorded between December 31, 2024 and December 15, 2025), the FBI reports hate crime incidents having occurred against every category of Religion, including Anti-Jewish, Anti-Islamic (Muslim), Anti-Catholic, Anti-Protestant, Anti-Sikh, Anti-Hindu, Anti-Buddhist, Anti-Mormon, Anti-Jehovah’s Witness, Anti-Eastern Orthodox, Anti-Multi-Religious Group, Anti-Other Christian, and Anti-Atheist/Agnostic. Incidents have occurred nationwide. (Source FBI Crime Data Explorer Link: https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/hate-crime.)

While issues of Jewish communal security are a particular concern for New York (hence the above leadership on the issue), the risks are high, nationally, for Jews and for the faith-based communities and the nonprofit sector at large. This is why over the years, NSGP and related legislation to improve the program and nonprofit security, generally, have been supported in both the House and the Senate, by Members of Congress from across the political spectrum, representing city, urban, and rural communities.

The nation’s law enforcement and counterterrorism experts cannot predict where, when, and how the next terrorist attack targeting a faith-based or communal institution will occur. (Source: DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis, “Homeland Security Assessment 2025,” October 2, 2024; Link: https://www.dhs.gov/publication/homeland-threat-assessment.)

This is why at-risk faith-based and communal institutions must have access to resources to prepare themselves against likely continued threats. Therefore, it is imperative that the NSGP program, and legislative initiatives to strengthen the program and nonprofit security resources, are available to adequately serve ALL communities. These efforts should be broadly supported by the greater faith-based community and nonprofit sector at large.

When Congress resumes legislative activities in January, I urge ALL OF YOU to reach out to your Members of Congress to seek their support for the above bulleted initiatives, and to call on your state and national advocates, associations, and fellow community partners to do the same.

Thank you for your consideration.

I wish you a safe and happy holiday season.

Best,

Rob Goldberg
Principal
Goldberg & Associates LLC
In partnership with Sphere State
To access content page: https://spherestatellc.com/resilience/security-for-nonprofits-blog/
To inquire about subscription plans: info@spherestatellc.com

The post Nonprofit Security Program Updates appeared first on Sphere State Group.

A few updates in the final stretch of the calendar year.

I. FY 2025 NSGP Funding Opportunity:

We are experiencing an NSGP grant cycle like no other.

Never before has there been a level of disengagement and disenfranchisement between FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate with the State Administrative Agencies (SAAs) and the nonprofit stakeholder community.

The cycle has been defined by late, staggard, and incomplete grant guidance, unexplained (and unpublished) policy and funding decisions (and lack of funding decisions), an absence of stakeholder training, technical assistance, shared or posted notices, updates, and alerts, or even a point of contact.

The previous uniformity of process that made the NSGP program a coordinated, coherent, and accountable program across the States was largely absent for the 2024 NSS funding opportunity and even more so in the present FY 2025 cycle.

While the NSGP application process and program administration have never been perfect, there were efforts within FEMA to advance and improve stakeholder relationships (and a reliable program lead) and legislative efforts to address program and funding short cummings.

The program has followed a predictable, congressionally mandated timeline for years that is now being ignored. The NSGP application process generally took place between February and August, with SAAs receiving FEMA award notifications before September 30, and nonprofits receiving SAA grant acceptance letters between October and November (if not sooner).

In the present FY 2025 environment, twelve State Attorneys General have filed a lawsuit against the Administration challenging their policy and funding decisions surrounding the preparedness grants. This is a fist.

Every SAA has had to act for and by themselves in terms of navigating last year’s (FY 2025 ended September 30^th) hollowed out application process. Some have completed the application process, some are just starting it, and others are still waiting, leaving nonprofit applicants across the country with an uneven and unreliable funding opportunity.

Last week, I worked with a client to complete a Florida application, which was due on Friday, December 12. That same day, I received notification from the Oregon Department of Emergency Management (OEM) that they just opened their application process with a January 15, 2026, deadline. The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services has only posted a place holder message: “The next round of the NSGP is expected to be released soon.”

One bit of information I gleaned from the OEM notification is that they “must submit project proposals to FEMA by Friday January 30, 2026.” Presumably, this deadline originated from a FEMA communication to OEM and could possibly apply to ALL SAAs.

OEM also maintains a “Federal Update” page, which includes what I have found to be the most organized and useful archive of preparedness grant programs (including FY 2025 NSGP) details. I recommend ALL interested parties keep tabs on this page regularly: https://www.oregon.gov/oem/Pages/Federal-Changes.aspx.

II. FEMA Overhaul Spotlight:

Last week, the FEMA Review Council was scheduled to meet to deliberate and vote on a much-anticipated final report on FEMA reform recommendations. White House officials abruptly interceded to cancel the 12-member council meeting just moments before it was set to begin.

The interruption occurred reportedly after and in reaction to a news outlet’s sharing details of a leaked copy of the final report.

According to CNN, Council report recommendations included “the most sweeping overhaul of FEMA in decades, dramatically reducing the federal agency’s role in disaster response by cutting its workforce in half and rolling out a new block grant system designed to get aid to communities faster and with less bureaucratic hassle.”

The article also focused on apparent heavy-handed interference, changes, or elimination of recommendations made by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to the Council’s recommendations in previous iterations of the report draft. While Council appointees by the President are mostly Republican, they are considered to be experienced and expert in emergency management matters.

The article may be read in its entirety at: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/10/politics/fema-council-report-recommend-downsizing-overhaul.

Neither DHS, FEMA, nor the White House have announced a rescheduling of the meeting.

III. Protecting the NSGP Program:

Notably, the FEMA preparedness programs that support State and local counterterrorism efforts, including the NSGP program, have been absent from what has been discussed in the context of FEMA’s potential overhaul or demise.

However, they will need a home and what comes of these programs could significantly harm the NSGP program, which has relied upon centralized guidelines, program administration, and a distinct funding stream.

I have explained this concern in past congressional statements for the record and testimonies I have written for myself and others, in support of NSGP over the years.

The following are pertinent parts from testimony I drafted for a March 2017 hearing of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure Committee to “Examine National Preparedness System and Capabilities:”

“Prior to the establishment of the NSGP program, there was no committed, coordinated, uniform, centralized program that promoted and ensured that at-risk nonprofit institutions participated in and benefited from meaningful Federal, state, and local homeland security efforts…

The Nonprofit Security Grant Program has become an essential component of the preparedness grant programs at FEMA. With a continuing and growing record of threats, attempted attacks, and deadly occurrences targeting Jewish communal institutions, as well to other vulnerable populations within the nonprofit sector, we believe there is ample justification for Congress to maintain the Nonprofit Security Grant Program as a singular, stand-alone initiative as a matter of national security, and should consider ways to strengthen the program, not dismantle it…

Conversely, we strongly believe that any effort to replace the NSGP program as part of a consolidation of the larger preparedness grant programs would disenfranchise at-risk nonprofit stakeholders, who could not be expected to meaningfully participate in or effectively compete with larger, more formidable and connected stakeholders for resources in an integrated competitive process. Such a move would dilute the connectivity and continuity between the local stakeholders and the State Administrative Agencies, as well between national stakeholders [ ], and FEMA.”

The complete testimony may be viewed at: https://transportation.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=401218.

In my view, the reformation or undoing of FEMA could result in the status quo ante for nonprofit stakeholders before NSGP became a program. Federal responsibility, oversight, and funding could be cut, and the program administration and resources could revert to the States and localities in a widely disparate and unequal application of interest and support, leaving nonprofit stakeholders to fend for themselves.

As FEMA reform considerations continue, NSGP advocates should be strenuously advocating that the Administration and Congress protect NSGP as a committed, coordinated, uniformly funded and administered, centralized, competitive program in partnership with the States, territories, localities, and nonprofit stakeholders.

Best,

Rob Goldberg
Principal
Goldberg & Associates LLC
In partnership with Sphere State
To access content page: https://spherestatellc.com/resilience/security-for-nonprofits-blog/
To inquire about subscription plans: info@spherestatellc.com

The post Nonprofit Security Program Updates appeared first on Sphere State Group.

Appropriations Update

With the federal government reopened and Congress back from an extended Thanksgiving recess, there remains about three weeks on the legislative calendar for Congress to complete its legislative agenda for the first year of the 119^th Congress.

One of Congress’s major and exclusive responsibilities is the “power of the purse,” which includes authorizing all federal spending and appropriations. For decades, Congress has regularly/annually fallen short of meeting this obligation within the statutory timeframe.

This year is no different. In reopening the government, Congress gave itself until January 30 to complete the appropriations work for the current fiscal year (FY 2026), which began on October 1^st.

There was an expectation leading into the holiday recess that a large package of outstanding bills could be passed before Christmas. Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) threw cold water on this prospect.

He indicated that the upper chamber would be focused on an agenda that includes extending health insurance subsidies that expire at month’s end, passing the annual defense authorization bill (which in 2023 included important NSGP improvements), and confirming executive branch nominations (not including filling the vacancy at FEMA, where no nomination has been submitted). [I note that as of this writing, it appears that it is unlikely Congress will reach a bipartisan compromise to avert healthcare premium increases.]

Thune said that this means there is no time to move the outstanding 2026 spending bills this calendar year.

Notwithstanding, appropriators are still focused on passing a large minibus spending package that includes Labor-HHS-Education, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD bills. If they are to succeed, much work on the bills would need to be completed by the week’s end – a long shot.

Leading into the Thanksgiving recess, there had been several holds placed on the various bills by Senate Republicans, slowing the majority’s own progress. A number of holds still remain that would need to be addressed to clear a path forward.

Even if the Senate were able to pass a package of spending bills and send it to the House, the House and Senate have other impediments. They have not reached bipartisan, bi-cameral agreement on topline spending limits for the year or what might be included in the package at hand. The House has its own preferences.

There remain 9 outstanding spending bills for the year, including for Homeland Security (and the NSGP program). What we can hope for is that the House and Senate will work to (informally) work out as many differences as possible leading into the next calendar year, so that when Congress reconvenes in early January, they will be in a good place to get bills done before the expiration of the current stop gap spending bill (Continuing Resolution (CR)) on January 30.

At this juncture, it is likely that any bills not completed by the CR deadline would be funded by another full-year continuing resolution – an unprecedented prospect of Congress potentially abdicating its responsibility over spending decisions for a second consecutive year.

Best,

Rob Goldberg
Principal
Goldberg and Associates, LLC
In partnership with Sphere State
To access content page: https://spherestatellc.com/resilience/security-for-nonprofits-blog/
To inquire about subscription plans: info@spherestatellc.com

The post Appropriations Update appeared first on Sphere State Group.

The following is an overview of breaking news regarding FEMA reforms, a refresher on the FY 2026 appropriations, and a summary of recent faith-based threat prosecutions.

I. Breaking News: Details about FEMA reorganization plans emerge:

The Associated Press (AP) has provided a detailed accounting of a draft (preliminary) report on FEMA reforms. The implications of administration interference are startling and worrying.

Apparently, the report was “slashed and amended by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s office,” from 160 pages to merely 20.

Moreover, many of the recommendations made by an appointed review council of primarily Republican appointees of the president, to strengthen FEMA were nixed. The President created the review council by executive order on January 24, the same day he proposed “ getting rid of ” FEMA, the AP reported.

As further reported, “[FEMA] former officials said that cutting some of the original recommendations and adding others that further diminish FEMA will not only show that the administration is intervening politically in a professional undertaking. They said the changed recommendations could ultimately leave states and other governments unequipped to prepare for or recover from disasters.”

[I note: The intent of the executive order is “to address serious concerns of political bias in FEMA” through a “full-scale review, by individuals highly experienced at effective disaster response and recovery, who shall recommend to the President improvements or structural changes to promote the national interest and enable national resilience.” The apparent countervailing changes Secretary Noem would impose would pervert the order’s intent. (The Executive Order may be read at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/council-to-assess-the-federal-emergency-management-agency/)]

With respect to NSGP, the article reported that “the new draft removes any mention of mitigation programs and slashes preparedness dollars for local emergency management agencies.” (Emphasis added) NSGP would fall into this category of preparedness programs.

The final report is expected to be published in mid-December. I will certainly track and report out the specifics when the final report is published. I hope that in the interim, an “oversight” spotlight will be placed on the DHS maneuvers to subvert the Council’s recommendations.

The AP reporting can be read in its entirety at: https://apnews.com/article/fema-review-council-kristi-noem-trump-disasters-22274e65fad13b9e3005e302bcce9cbb.

II. Fiscal Year 2026 spending status refresher:

For the first time since the government shuttered on September 30, House and Senate appropriations leaders met. With a short term Continuing Resolution (CR) passed to reopen the government, they (Congress) have a January 30th deadline to pass the FY 2026 spending bills.

The CR included full year funding for 3 of the 12 bills considered the least controversial: Agriculture, Legislative Branch and Military Construction-VA.

Reaching a conclusion could take several paths.

Presently, Senate Republican leaders would like to bring up a package featuring two of the largest spending bills, Defense and Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, and possibly Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD. Their House counterparts would prefer to bring up a smaller package they believe would be easier to pass.

One of the impasses to advancing any of the bills is the lack of an agreement reached on a top-line spending level and the determination of spending limits for each remaining bill. This typically requires bipartisan agreement.

Also in question are the 4 remaining bills the Senate appropriations Committee has yet to release — Energy-Water, Financial Services, State-Foreign Operations, and Homeland Security, which funds NSGP.

Intraparty concerns among Senate Republicans have led to the placement of a number of holds on advancing the spending bills. Some object to the overall spending level of the large package being floated, and some are opposed to combining multiple bills into one big bundle (aka minibus), which would require unanimous consent of all senators.

With respect to securing bipartisan cooperation, the Senate minority has withheld their support in exchange for the inclusion of protections in FY 2026 spending bills that the majority opposes*. They object to the administration’s practice of freezing funds that Congress has appropriated for various programs, the administration’s lack of transparency in its spending decisions, the administration’s use the Office of Management and Budget’s “apportionment process” as a tool for political control rather than as Congress intended, and generally the administration’s undermining or Congress’s exclusive ability to tax, borrow, and spend public money for the national government.

These objections could be a roadblock to the minority’s support for spending bills going forward.

* In July, one lone House Republican, Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (FL), who is the vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee, attempted to include a provision to limit the administration’s use of the controversial “pocket rescission” the president has used to withhold money already appropriated by Congress. This attempt was quickly squashed after the Office of Management and Budget’s director, Russell Vought, intervened in opposition. (See: https://www.notus.org/congress/mario-diaz-balart-trump-rescissions-appropriations)

[Note: As I have illustrated in several previous blog posts, how such interference has negatively impacted the NSGP program. Just this morning, I received the following inquiry from a professional security consultant: “FEMA seems to have suspended all budget reallocation and scope of change requests.” They wanted to know whether the freeze was temporary and if I knew when it might be lifted. My response was that there is no flow of information or known contacts at FEMA who would address this inquiry, and I advised (with my now common refrain) that the State Administrative Agencies are the appropriate (if only viable) points of contact for stakeholders to receive grant guidance. The SAAs presumably have direct contact with FEMA].

III. Threats to houses of worship persist:

The May 21, 2025, deadly shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C and the June 1, 2025, deadly attack on an Israel solidarity group on the Boulder, Colorado “Mall” have epitomized the extreme level and geographic dispersion of threats facing faith-based communities, their people, and institutions.

Unfortunately, these are not isolated cases. The following are headlines regarding the prosecution of threats since September 19th. The full reporting will be included within my updated Threat Chronology grant guidance I will post this evening to: https://spherestatellc.com/insights/tag/paid/?pcategory=nsgp-program-guidance-resources):

• “Leader of the “Maniac Murder Cult” Recruited Others to Bomb and Poison the Jewish Community and Racial Minorities” (Source: DOJ, Office of Public Affairs)
• “Maryland Man Pleads Guilty to Mailing Threatening Communications to at least 40 Jewish Institutions and Civil Rights Violations” (Source: DOJ, Office of Public Affairs)
• “Arizona Man Sentenced for Bomb Plot Targeting Christian Churches” (Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California)
• “Michigan suspects charged with conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and having firearms that would be used to commit an act of terrorism [“American Jewish Center“] on behalf of ISIS” (Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Michigan)
• “Kentucky Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Charge for Damaging Church Statues” 2025 (Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Kentucky)
• “Arizona Man Sentenced To 49 Months In Prison For Sending 1,000 Antisemitic Death Threats” (Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York)
• “New York Man Sentenced To 17 Months In Prison For Hate Crimes After Repeatedly Assaulting Jewish Victims at Pro-Israel Events” (Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York)
• “The FBI continues investigating the horrific attack on innocent victims at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc. MI” (Source: FBI Detroit Field Office)
• “Florida Man Charged in Arson of Jewish Center” (Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida)
• “Two Texas individuals charged for firebombing Buddhist temple” (Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas)

Best,

Rob Goldberg
Principal
Goldberg and Associates, LLC
In partnership with Sphere State

The post NSGP Updates re FEMA, Funding & Threats appeared first on Sphere State Group.

While most of the email responses I receive from subscribers are positive, some are critical of my more recent reporting on NSGP and the challenges I articulate the program is facing in the midst of what I call the program’s “constructive dismantling;” the conditions of mismanagement so severe the program is not functioning.

They suggest I am being partisan. I disagree. I am conveying facts, circumstances, and analysis based on the public record, first-hand experience, and my engagements with congressional staff, executive branch professionals, clients, and NSGP stakeholders.

To this point, last week I received a copy of a statement from a State Administrative Agency’s NSGP Coordinator conveying that their State’s FY 2025 NSGP grant program is in limbo, as it and 22 other states are ensnared in a lawsuit against DHS/FEMA challenging “the reduced UASI grant funds and the NSGP seems to be collateral damage (at the moment).” He advised a local stakeholder, “Have your IJ written, and your Risk Assessment & 501c3 letter ‘at the ready’ to upload into our portal at a moment’s notice…and cross your fingers.” This is NOT functioning government.

Yesterday, House Homeland Security Committee ranking member, Bennie Thompson (D-MS), posted a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and outgoing acting FEMA director David Richardson (copied to the Committee’s Chairman Andrew Garbarino) to express many concerns (which I share) on the status of the FY 2025 NSGP program, and to suggest several action steps to get the program back on track for the FY 2025 cycle and going forward.

I reviewed the letter during its drafting and was pleased by the balance of its message and recommendations and the author’s intent for it to be a bipartisan supported letter. Mr. Thompson shared the letter with the Committee’s majority for their comments and support. Unfortunately, no member of the majority signed onto the letter.

In previous years, there was little light between the Homeland Security Committee’s majority and minority on matters pertaining to NSGP. Past committee chairmen Peter King (R-NY), Michael McCaul (R-TX), and John Katko (R-NY) led on letters supporting the program (letters I had a hand in drafting).

The present Thompson letter calls for DHS and FEMA to:

1. Immediately clarify the timeline for the FY 2025 NSGP applications, address all other open issues or incomplete grant guidance to the State Administrative Agencies and nonprofit sub-applicants, and expedite application completion and awards to nonprofits.
2. Immediately remove the vague NOFO requirements that unduly burden States and nonprofit organizations and may ultimately prevent nonprofits from accessing funds.
3. Immediately provide Congress with the full list of nonprofits that received NSGP awards this year and continue to provide this information each time awards are made in the future.
4. Immediately begin outreach, engagement, and educational assistance to nonprofits to share essential information about the NSGP application process.
5. Immediately rescind any guidance or directives that have resulted, or could result, in violations of anti-discrimination laws within NSGP.

Together, these recommendations would address the delays, constraints, and holds impacting the FY 2025 NSGP program and future grant cycles.

The letter was signed by more than 30 Democratic House Members, including all Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee, and may be read at: https://democrats-homeland.house.gov/news/correspondence/-democrats-demand-trump-administration-release-homeland-security-grant-funds-for-houses-of-worship-and-nonprofits.

I understand that a similar letter is being drafted by Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), the ranking members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The letter comes at a time of heightened threats to nonprofit institutions and especially houses of worship. In my next blog, I will include an update on several recent threats. Today, I will share just one incident (emanating from Senator Peter’s own State of Michigan) to underscore the need for the immediate fixes articulated in the Thompson letter.

Two weeks ago, the FBI arrested three Dearborn, MI, men accused of affiliation with the terrorist organization ISIS and who were allegedly planning a terrorist attack or attacks in the United States. I reviewed the nearly one hundred page amended complaint against these individuals and garnered the following details:

• The defendants are Ayob Nasser, Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud. All from Dearborn and each charged with conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and for possessing firearms that would be used to commit an act of terrorism on behalf of ISIS in the US. The amended criminal complaint includes details of their potential attack plan.
• Law enforcement searches resulted in the seizure of three AR-15 style rifles, two shotguns, four handguns, approximately 1,680 rounds of ammunition compatible with the three AR-15 style rifles, two GoPro cameras, a flash suppressor, six tactical vests/chest rigs, two tactical backpacks, and 44 rifle magazines. Two of the rifle magazines were found to be loaded, along with three loaded 9mm magazines. FBI agents also found and seized boxes of 9mm ammunition, ammunition cans, and shotgun slugs. Other firearm accessories seized included grips, stocks, trigger springs and components, weapon slings, tactical flashlights, multiple optics, including a magnified optic, and a pressure switch for tactical lasers/flashlights.
• The amended complaint references that the defendants traveled to scout potential attack target locations in Ferndale, Michigan, and in the Midwest.
• It also revealed that the three defendants communicated regarding potential attack targets and related information on a WhatsApp group chat they created in June 2025.
• In discussions between October 23 and October 24, 2025, Ali and Mahmoud posted videos from their trips to the gun range (where they were practicing their plans) to their chat group. In one exchange commenting on the videos, someone in the group (referred to as “Person 1”) texted, “American Jewish Center,” suggesting that Jewish institutions would be targeted.

The amended complaint may be read in full at: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/third-suspect-arrested-and-charged-along-two-current-defendants-conspiring-provide.

I certainly do not want to make readers uncomfortable with my reporting, but I will not dilute my opinions (under pressure or otherwise) to create a false sense that all is well. NSGP, like many of the counter terrorism grant programs FEMA administers, is in jeopardy at a time when the nonprofit sector and faith-based communities remain in need of physical target hardening and preparedness resources. My next threat incident reporting will underscore this point, again.

Best,

Rob Goldberg
Principal
Goldberg and Associates, LLC
In partnership with Sphere State

The post House Homeland Security Democrats Fighting for NSGP appeared first on Sphere State Group.

Now that Congress has resumed business, efforts to jump start the unfinished FY 2026 appropriations process is underway.

Time and focus will not be straightforward (no spending limits have been reached at this point), although appropriators are hopeful they will move some of the spending bills soon.

However, none of the bills being discussed are the Homeland Security bill. It is hardly mentioned in reports or updates.

There was a brief mention that the Senate majority could move its own partisan Homeland Security bill through the committee process in the absence of reaching a bipartisan agreement with the minority. Such a move has occurred in the past when the Democrats controlled the Senate. It could serve as a starting point for further negotiations with the House down the road.

The FEMA preparedness grant programs, including the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, are tied to however the Senate spending committee proceeds with the Homeland Security bill. Several Senate Democrats wrote a letter to the Appropriations Committee this past summer seeking $500 million for NSGP. We do not know what the Senate majority is planning for NSGP. The House has already approved a version with $330 million for NSGP in FY 2026.

While we await the fate of NSGP funding, today, David Richardson resigned as acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He took over the role after his predecessor then-acting head of FEMA Cameron Hamilton was summarily fired in May after testifying before Congress to his personal support for FEMA in apparent defiance of the administration’s stated opposition to the agency.

Richardson, during his brief tenure, was criticized for his lack of leadership during disasters, lack of day-to-day presence and availability at the agency, and for his lack of experience and qualification for the job.

With massive workforce reductions at FEMA, including many senior-level employees, coupled with a phalanx of new rules and budget restrictions imposed by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the disequilibrium at FEMA over the past 11 months has left NSGP in a state of near continuous mismanagement, inactivity, and opaqueness.

During this time, the administration has failed to proffer a permanent FEMA Administrator for confirmation and continues interim leadership at the agency with the appointment of FEMA’s current chief of staff Karen Evans as Richardson’s replacement.

While this is what is happening in the foreground, in the background a partisan “review council” commissioned by the President and co-chaired by Homeland Security Secretary Noem and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, is working on a final report that will inform (provide cover to) the administration to further “reform” and or “restructure” FEMA.

The report is a disquieting prospect given the current state of the agency and the programs it administers, such as NSGP.

Best,

Rob Goldberg
Principal
Goldberg and Associates, LLC
In partnership with Sphere State

The post NSGP Funding Uncertainties & Continued Disquiet at FEMA appeared first on Sphere State Group.

Consistent with prior year’s appropriations. Congress included in the FY 2024 Homeland Security spending bill a timeframe by which FEMA was to promulgate key aspects of the NSGP application process. These requirements continued in FY 2025 as part of the year-long Continuing Resolution.

The requirements are (as taken from the FY 2024 spending bill, Page 536, Sec. 303, Committee Print H.R. 2882/Public Law 118–47):

• FEMA to release the Notice of Funding Opportunity to the State Administrative Agencies (SAAs) within 60 days from Congress’s enactment of the fiscal year’s Appropriations bill.
• The SAAs will have between 30 and 80 days to administer the applications to interested 501c3 organizations and submit eligible applications to FEMA for further review.
• Within this period, the SAAs will establish the period within which the 501c3s are to complete the IJ (deadlines may differ between SAAs).
• FEMA will have up to 65 days to make award recommendations to the Secretary of Homeland Security, who will make final award decisions.

Typically, FEMA announces final award decisions before September 1st.

For FY 2025, the “Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act” (P.L. 119-4) became law on March 15, 2025. Accordingly, the NSGP Notice of Funding Opportunity should have been released no later than May 15. The SAAs (and the nonprofit subrecipients) should have submitted their application to FEMA sometime between June 14 and August 3. FEMA should have made award recommendations to the Secretary of Homeland Security sometime between August 18 and October 7.

Discretionary annual appropriations technically have a 12-month authorization period (comprising the fiscal year commencing October 1 and ending September 30) within which period the administering department or agency is to commit the appropriated funds. If funds are uncommitted by the end of the fiscal year, they are to be returned to the Treasury.

With 48 hours before the deadline for FY 2025 tolled, the administration announced that it had committed the counterterrorism grants. This was more a gimmick than actual progress, as most grant award details were not published and key details and processes remain clouded under a veil of murkiness and uncertainty.

Moreover, the announcement, as it pertains to NSGP, did not follow precedent nor complied with the legislative requirements. The NOFO is incomplete. The SAAs and nonprofit subrecipients have not begun, completed, or submitted applications to FEMA for review. FEMA has not made subrecipient recommendations to the Secretary of Homeland Security and final decisions have not been made on subrecipient awards.

At this juncture, we can presume, but not verify, that the SAAs have received their target allocations for NSGP-Urban Area and NSGP-State funding streams, but that is as far as the FY 2025 program has advanced two months into the new fiscal year (FY 2026), and almost a month after the furthest deadline Congress legislated to complete the application and award processes.

What is the impact of these delays? Let’s review a case in point: Elevated threats in Alabama.

Under the FY 2025 NSGP NOFO, Alabama received a target allocation of $3 million, which remains in limbo. Based on recent threats in the State, this funding would otherwise have meaningful utility.

It has been reported that in 2023, at least five Jewish congregations in Alabama received emailed bomb threats and that in 2024, the ADL identified at least 67 antisemitic incidents in the State, including four incidents where Jewish institutions were targeted.

As many of you may have read, threats to Alabama’s Jewish institutions took a disturbing turn this week. According to multiple sources, Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker, 33, of Needham, Alabama, was arrested on Monday after the FBI and local law enforcement were alerted of “credible threats of violence” he made to local synagogues (in Alabama and neighboring states).

It was further reported that upon Shoemaker’s arrest, he possessed “weapons, more than a suitcase full of ammo, body armor and other items related to the plans of violence.” It was reported he resisted arrest and appeared he did not intend to be taken alive.

This remains an unfolding story and details about Shoemaker’s motivation and the threat events that led to his arrest have not yet fully come to light.

Alabama is considered a Republican stronghold at both the federal and state level. The Jewish population of Alabama is miniscule at about 18,000 (0.35%) of the State’s population of 5.2 million.

I share this data to underscore that the threats to the Jewish community can come from anywhere, in any geographic area in the country, no matter how small the community. This is why we worked so hard to establish the NSGP-State program in 2018 and ensured program resources would be evenly distributed between the NSGP-UA and NSGP-S programs, to ensure all communities — urban, suburban, and rural – would participate according to competitive (nonpartisan) and risk-based criteria.

Today, every community is hurt by the dysfunction with the state and local counterterrorism/preparedness grant programs. Whether New York or Alabama.

As I reported previously, in June 2025, the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), which represent state and local elected officials, first responders, and those directly responsible for homeland security and emergency management in communities nationwide, sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to urge the executive branch to restart the preparedness grants.

They wrote that the delay has created “an inability to enhance response and recovery capabilities across the country and puts critical infrastructure at risk,” and “comes during a time when nation-state actors, domestic and international extremists, and the hazards of our natural environment pose a tremendous and increasing threat.” They added it was a matter of trust established over decades of work between federal, state, and local stakeholders.

In this void, there is an effort among congressional homeland security committee supporters of NSGP and the greater preparedness grant programs to address the serious problems of executive branch intransigence.

I have contributed my critique, comments, and recommendations to a number of the fixes that are in development, and I hope to be able to share details with you soon.

Best,

Rob Goldberg
Principal
Goldberg and Associates, LLC
In partnership with Sphere State

The post NSGP Timelines, Threats, and Fixes appeared first on Sphere State Group.

Even before the partial federal government shutdown, the FY 2025 Nonprofit Security Grant Program was off the rails.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released an incomplete Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), which included significant structural changes to the awards process. Arguably, because of the lateness in DHS’s program launch, it was necessary for the Department to make target award determinations to designated UASI areas under the NSGP-Urban Area program, instead of the previous competitive allocation process.

[Unfortunately, DHS already made “politically motivated,” non-risk-based determinations in the final target award process within a closely aligned counterterrorism grant program — the FY2025 UASI program that led to multi-blue state litigation.]

The incompleteness of the NSGP NOFO has led to a hodgepodge of state actions, from some states setting deadlines for nonprofits completing the sub-award application process to other states taking zero action and sharing zero information. No matter, all SAAs and every nonprofit applying and planning to apply for the FY 2025 NSGP grant, waiting for clarity and certainty in the process.

Adding to the uncertainty is the nearly complete blackout on information and grant application assistance from DHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Faith-based and nonprofit institutions require assistance in navigating the application process, even more so now that the FY 2025 NOFO, coupled with executive orders, have inartfully insinuated into the program dubious anti-immigration and anti-DEI restrictions that are broad, confusing, untested, and chilling. [Also leading to litigation.]

Practically into the second month of Fiscal Year 2026, the FY 2025 program is stuck at the starting gate with no sense when the intransigence will clear for a pathway forward.

Over the past few weeks, I have been asked to help some in Congress, who are stalwart champions of the NSGP program, in developing legislation and official inquiries intended to untangle the NSGP process immediately and to return the program to a state of function for the long term. I hope and look forward to reporting out should these strategies proceed.

In the meantime, threats to the nonprofit community continue at concerning levels.

Today, we remember the seventh anniversary of the mass casualty attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. Avowed white supremacist Robert Gregory Bowers, killed eleven people and wounded six, in the deadliest attack on a local Jewish community in US history.

Since the attack, white supremacists have used extremist online platforms to openly praise Bowers and celebrate the anniversary. According to the ADL, Bowers is frequently praised as a hero of neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Right wing extremists have posted lamentations of their disappointment that more casualties were not achieved. The attack has directly inspired other antisemitic violence, including the deadly shooting at a synagogue in Poway, CA. The glorification of such attacks by white supremacists and other far-right extremists poses a persistent threat to Jewish communities.

As JTA reported, this past week, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), speaking at a major gathering for Christian supporters of Israel warned of “a growing cancer” of antisemitism on the right. As JTA further reported, “Charlie Kirk’s assassination last month, which unleashed a torrent of conspiracies that quickly turned antisemitic in parts of the right’s online ecosystem.” JTA recounted that far-right activists with antisemitic views are now “welcomed by a roster of popular podcasts and livestreams.”

Persistent threats are not limited to the far-right. This morning, JNS reported on Iran’s payback campaign against Israel and Jews worldwide for Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion” attack on Iran this past June. According to Israeli Intelligence, Iran is operating a terror network worldwide that is “highly compartmentalized and employed foreign operatives, including criminal organizations,” and which is thought to be responsible for recent attempted attacks in Greece, Germany, and Australia.

According to an October 2025 report from the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, Iran and its proxies, such as Hezbollah, have spent years developing a “homeland option” within the U.S. to strike American and Israeli targets. In June 2025, DHS released an advisory bulletin, which stated that the “ongoing Iran conflict is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States,” and “could also motivate violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators seeking to attack targets perceived to be Jewish, pro-Israel.”

In 2024 (the most recent data available), Religion was the second most frequent category of hate crimes (constituting nearly 24%). Of those, nearly 70% of all religious-motivated hate crimes (i.e., assault, intimidation, arson, or vandalism) were anti-Jewish in 2024, according to the FBI. Recently, the National Sikh Campaign reminded that the threats are not just targeting the Jewish community.

In a recent news bulletin, NSC, reported “Sikhs have endured shocking acts of violence and hate. The most recent FBI data indicated that anti-Sikh crimes accounted for the 3rd most in 2024, amounting to nearly 5% of all anti-religious hate crimes. Anti-Muslim crimes amounted to 9%, anti-Catholic bias crimes represented nearly 2%, and Other Christian bias crimes more than 2.5%.

What is certain is that while the NSGP program is stymied and mired with untenable, unending delay, terrorism and terroristic crimes targeting faith-based institutions and the nonprofit sector remain a grave concern.

Best,

Rob Goldberg
Principal
Goldberg and Associates, LLC
In partnership with Sphere State

The post Government Intransigence in the Midst of Continued Elevated Threats appeared first on Sphere State Group.