Insider Threats

Violence threat and insider threat assessment rely on successfully identifying, interpreting, and responding to concerning or malicious behaviors before egregious harm is done. Both types of threats benefit from multidisciplinary teams of experts skillfully putting together data points before physical, emotional, financial, reputational, or informational harm occurs. Usually the identified character (e.g., decision-making, interpersonal style, work style), stressors, and concerning behaviors demonstrated do not clearly indicate whether a person will assault coworkers, steal classified/proprietary information, sabotage systems, or proceed normally as a responsible employee. Empirically based risk factors and threat indicators provide opportunities to evaluate potential threats more appropriately earlier in the assessment process. This chapter is an overview of insider threat definitions and programs, what it takes to become an insider threat, and how research psychologists bring rigorous science to insider threat detection, providing a solid understanding of what is known and not known about nonviolent insider threats.