Defense Secretary Threatened With Death Unless He Attacks Chabad

A Georgia man was arrested after posting a chilling and bizarre message on X demanding that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth personally attack a Chabad house, and threatening to kill Hegseth’s family if he refused.

Jonathan Mark Susor was taken into custody by the Alpharetta Police Department on September 25, the same day a federal criminal complaint was filed against him in the Northern District of Georgia. According to the complaint, the post was made on July 28 from Fulton County.

The post instructed Hegseth to carry out the attack in order to be spared “punishment,” writing: “If you personally strap a GoPro to your head and clear out a Chabad synagogue with the service rifle you’ll be spared punishment @PeteHegseth.” The reference to a GoPro drew particular attention, as Hamas terrorists used GoPro cameras to record their atrocities on October 7.

The post then threatened, “Otherwise, your entire family is going to be killed for the last cretin.” The threat did not name a specific Chabad location.

Investigators say it was not the first time. According to an FBI affidavit, the same account had earlier published threats of harm and death against Hegseth and his family, along with photographs of Hegseth’s children.

The case was handled with the involvement of an FBI task-force officer on the Domestic Terrorism squad in Atlanta, and authorities traced the post to Fulton County using data obtained by warrant. Susor allegedly admitted to law enforcement that he wrote it.

The threat was first spotted by the Secure Community Network (SCN), which immediately alerted the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta’s security leadership and issued a BOLO, or “Be on the Lookout,” notice to Jewish institutions and security partners.

SCN and the Federation later praised law enforcement for acting quickly and said that, after an assessment, there was no credible ongoing threat to the Jewish community. They urged the community to remain vigilant and rely on verified information.

Susor faces one federal count of interstate threatening communications. In Fulton County, he faces state charges that include three counts of disseminating information related to terrorism by computer, three counts of making terror threats, stalking, and harassing communications. He was being held on $10,000 bond. No next court date has been announced.