With anti-Jewish threats rising, Community Security Service volunteers coordinated with local law enforcement to protect a delegation of Jewish War Veterans marching in the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C., on May 25.
About 30 members of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America were expected to march in the parade, including four World War II veterans who were ride in vintage vehicles.
Richard Priem, CEO of Community Security Service, told JNS before the parade that he wants those four veterans to “see and know that there are younger people standing up for their right to be Jewish Americans, just like they did 80 years ago.”
“American Jews serve,” he told JNS. “People are spreading antisemitic libel to suggest that Jews are not loyal to America, to suggest that Jews don’t serve.”
Founded in 1896 by Civil War veterans, Jewish War Veterans was established in part to counter those accusations.
CSS and the Jewish veterans group formalized a partnership in 2025. Volunteers coordinated with the Metropolitan Police Department, U.S. Park Police, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during the event.
Priem told JNS that CSS has had multiple incidents when security volunteers worked with law enforcement to “put the dots together and identify potential threats” and prevented attacks.
“A quiet shift is a good shift,” Priem said. “Our goal is to prevent attacks from happening and to make sure that the Jewish community can be safe.”
At the Memorial Day parade, Priem said his team would be “in the periphery” and that “we are eyes and ears.”
“Our team will have communication equipment, but we try to fit in,” he told JNS ahead of the event. He noted that his team has been trained to identify suspicious activity and that he believed law enforcement had the safety of the event under control.
“Our volunteers want to be there to show support and to protect those veterans and to make sure that they know that the new generation is ready to do service and keep the community safe,” he told JNS.
