Chicago center trained rabbi, other hostages at Texas synagogue who escaped safely

Matthew Siegel, assistant deputy director for Secure Community Network, at the company’s Chicago command center. It provides terrorist- response training for synagogues and other Jewish institutions. | Pat Nabong / Sun-Times

When a gunman from England took four people hostage last month in a synagogue near Fort Worth, Texas, a high-tech command center in a nondescript office building in River North sprang into action.

Secure Community Network monitors threats against Jewish communities across the United States. It was alerted after police arrived at the Colleyville, Texas, synagogue. The Chicago command center immediately notified the FBI and the federal Department of Homeland Security.