FBI Has Found No Credible Terror Threats to Hospitals

The FBI has not identified any credible terrorist threats of physical attacks on U.S. hospitals, said the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center and the American Hospital Association, one week after the two groups issued a joint warning about threats surfacing on social media.

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On Wednesday, the FBI advised the Health-ISAC and AHA that “after extensive investigation and intelligence review, they have not identified any specific credible threat targeted against hospitals in any U.S. city,” the Health-ISAC and AHA said in an update to a March 18 joint alert.

If the FBI finds credible threat information, the agency has promised to “immediately advise any identified potential targets and, if appropriate, alert the broader health sector through the AHA, Health-ISAC and other appropriate channels,” the update said.

The two industry groups last week warned the healthcare sector to shore up physical security and cybersecurity, as well as emergency management response plans, as the FBI was investigating threats that surfaced on social media involving potentially coordinated terrorist attacks on hospitals in mid-tier U.S. cities in coming weeks (see: Authorities Warn of Security Terror Threats to Hospitals).

The social media sightings about the potential threats included a post on X – formerly Twitter – by a user at American Kinetix, a global operational services support firm. That company’s website says its leadership is comprised of former CIA and Joint Special Operations Command veterans.

That X post warned of a “highly credible threat” involving ISIS-K “actively planning coordinated, multi-city terrorist attacks on U.S. hospitals in the coming weeks.” Those attacks potentially included vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices followed by armed assaults and hostage scenarios, the post said.

“We appreciate the FBI’s swift response and collaboration with Health-ISAC and AHA on their assessment of this threat,” Errol Weiss, chief security officer at Health-ISAC told Information Security Media Group.

“It’s reassuring they found no specific credible threat targeting hospitals in U.S. cities. That said, we still recommend hospitals review their security practices and ensure they have a publicly visible security presence, which can help lower the risk of being a target,” Weiss said.

The reality is, hospitals remain a potential terrorist target, he said. “We will continue to provide timely threat intelligence to the health sector, because the cost of inaction is simply too high, regardless of the perceived likelihood.”

The joint bulletin from Health-ISAC and AHA was not a first, he said. “We have put the health sector on alert in the past due to rising geopolitical tensions for various reasons like when U.S. forces killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in drone strike in Afghanistan in August 2022, and following publication of extremist documents like ‘The Hard Reset’ that advocated for attacks against soft targets like hospitals in the U.S. in July 2022.”