28 | JUNE 9 • 2022
OUR COMMUNITY
T
he Jewish Federation
of Metro Detroit has
spun off its security
program, leading to the
creation of a standalone
organization, Jewish
Community Security Inc.
(JCSI). Launched March 1,
JCSI is led by Gary Sikorski,
who continues
in his role as
director of
community-wide
security.
“The program
had grown to the
point it could no
longer be a department of
the Federation,” says David
Kurzmann, senior director,
community
affairs for the
Federation. “The
community-wide
security program
of the Federation
has continued to
evolve and grow
to take care of
the needs of the community.
This is the next step.”
The Federation’s
recommendation to split
out the security function
led to the establishment of
JCSI, a group made up of
12 employees, including
Sikorski, with Federation its
primary stakeholder. “You’ll
see even more collaboration,”
Kurzmann says.
While the largely
internal changes will bring
the security for Jewish
community entities under
one roof, it won’t affect how
security is administered in
the community, Sikorski
says. “Other than our logo
on our shirts and our email
addresses, it’s business as
usual,” he explains.
The change will allow
JCSI to perform security
for a broader range of
organizations, he says,
explaining that previously
it could only provide
security for Federation
agencies or Federation
events. Now licensed by
Michigan’s Licensing and
Regulatory Affairs (LARA),
it can provide services
to Federation agencies,
community agencies and
more. “We’re not hanging out
a shingle to generate business
with other nonprofits, houses
of worship or synagogues,
though we could in the
future,” Sikorski says.
The security program,
which still has offices at
Federation’s building in
Bloomfield Township, has
grown from one person
in 2006 to three in 2009,
eight in 2013, then to 12
and soon to be 15, he says.
“Just by virtue of personnel,
equipment and areas of
responsibility, it made sense
to do this,” he says. “It allows
us to be more responsive to
community needs.”
They still respond to
requests for training from
synagogues and agencies,
and stay active in responding
to requests for consultation,
security assessment and grant
assistance, Sikorski adds.
“We have been and will
continue to always be a
resource for the entire Jewish
community,” Sikorski says.
“We still work side by side
with all of our Federation
and community partners.”
Cleveland’s Federation
has done something similar
and helped provide a model
for the security element’s
separation and JCSI’s
establishment, Sikorski
adds. “Cleveland was very
helpful and very gracious in
providing us assistance in
navigating this transition,”
he says, adding that other
Federations are also looking
at having security operations
stand alone. That said, JCSI
will be the central address
for security, supported by the
Federation.
“They’re still very much
involved,” he says. “We are
a part of delivering those
services to the Federation
and to Federation agencies.”
JCSI is also continuing
to work closely with law
enforcement partners, the
Anti-Defamation League
(ADL), Secure Community
Network (SCN) and
community groups, especially
given the rise of antisemitism
and hate crimes, Sikorski
says.
“We’re very much engaged.
We’re keeping a finger on
the pulse of the community
and potential threats to the
community,” he says.
“The safety and security
of the Detroit Jewish
community is our primary
concern.”
Federation’s security program is now
a standalone organization.
Community Security Update
Gary
Sikorski
David
Kurzmann
KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Zekelman Holocaust Center (the HC)
will host a virtual discussion Understanding
the Crisis in Yemen on June 14 at 7 p.m. The
conflict — now in its eighth year — has
broken the country and spawned one of
the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Dr. Gregory Johnsen, author of The
Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America’s
War in Arabia and a former member of the
U.N. Security Council’s Panel of Experts
on Yemen, will lead the discussion.
Registration for Understanding the Crisis
in Yemen is available online at
www.holocaustcenter.org/June. The
event will be held virtually on Zoom.
Johnsen has been a Peace Corps vol-
unteer in Jordan, a Fulbright Fellow in
Yemen and a Fulbright-Hays Fellow
in Egypt. In 2014, he was selected as
BuzzFeed’s inaugural Michael Hastings
National Security Reporting Fellow,
where he won a Dirksen Award from the
National Press Foundation and, in collab-
oration with Radiolab, a Peabody Award.
From 2016–2018, Johnsen served on
the Yemen Panel of Experts for the U.N.
Security Council and, in 2019, he served
as the lead writer for the Syria Study
Group.
His writing on Yemen and terrorism
has appeared in the New York Times, The
Atlantic and Foreign Policy. Currently, he
is a nonresident fellow at the Center
for Middle East Policy at the Brookings
Institution. He is also the editor of the
Yemen Review and a nonresident fellow for
the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies.
“Dr. Johnsen brings a tremendous
amount of knowledge and expertise on
the subject of the war in Yemen and all
of its atrocities,
” said Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld,
CEO of the Zekelman Holocaust Center.
“Most importantly, this includes just how
little the rest of the world knows about
what happened, what’s happening and
what can be done about it. It is indeed a
very important conversation we are proud
to be hosting.
”
Community partners for the event
are the Talsky Center for Human Rights
of Women & Children, Michigan State
University College of Law and the
Consulate of the Republic of Yemen-
Detroit.
Understanding the War
in Yemen at the HC