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Countering the Threat of Insider Spies

David Charney was a speaker at the Institute of World Politics’ Chancellor’s Council Meeting. He spoke on the topic of “Countering the Threat of Insider Spies”. Here is a video…

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How Core Psychology Also Explains Why People Do Not Become Insider Spies

How Core Psychology Also Explains Why People Do Not Become Insider Spies

The question “why didn’t you do it?” can be asked of those millions of individuals who possess security clearances and who have access to sensitive information who nevertheless have not engaged in insider espionage.  Their names are immediately recognizable to most of the public: Robert Hannsen, Aldrich Ames, John Walker, Julius Rosenberg, Benedict Arnold     …

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Lecture Video: What Makes Traitors Tick?

On Wednesday, February 5, 2014, David Charney, MD gave a lecture for the Smithsonian Associates at the International Spy Museum entitled, “What Makes Traitors Tick?” The lecture is based on his article, “True Psychology of the Insider Spy.”

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jeffrey paul delisle

A Psychological Perfect Storm: The Jeffery Delisle Case, Part I

By John Irvin NOIR Team By all accounts, there’s nothing exceptional about former Canadian Navy Sub-Lieutenant Jeffery Delisle, certainly nothing that would suggest a future as a convicted insider spy. A high school friend described him as the “sort of person who just blended into the background.” [1]  If he was notable in high school for…

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Evaluating insider threat indicators and mitigation measures: A Delphi study

Dr. David Charney was part of a worldwide group of insider threat experts who were consulted for a University of Antwerp doctoral project on insider threats, which was published in April 2022. The project used the Delphi technique, which is “a widely used method of gathering group consensus from a panel of knowledgeable persons”.  The…

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How to Take Care of an Ex-Spy

An idea to help former/retired Intelligence Community personnel that is along the same lines as the NOIR concept. Excerpts highlighted below; read the full article here. Comment by Dr. David Charney: Finally, a clear-minded statement about a pervasive shortfall within the intelligence community. Caruso’s article parallels my work as a psychiatrist who has studied these…

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LECTURE – Insider Spies: New Ideas to Counter the Threat

Dr. David Charney will be giving a lecture about his new NOIR White Paper, Prevention: The Missing Link for Managing Insider Threat in the Intelligence Community, at the Institute of World Politics graduate school in Washington, DC on Friday, February 8, 2019 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Dr. Charney’s lecture, “Insider Spies: New Ideas…

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NOIR Featured in European Counterintelligence Journal

The following article by John Irvin appeared under the title NOIR: Neue Strategien zur Erkennung von Insiderspionen in Vol.10, Nr.1/2016 of the Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies [JIPSS], published by the Austrian Center for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies [ACIPSS].[1]   ACIPSS was founded at the University of Graz, Austria, in 2004, “in order…

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Insider Spies: What is Appropriate Punishment?

By John Irvin “If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” —Albert Einstein While this is a genuine Einstein quote, he is often misquoted as having said, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a…

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Focus on the Person, not Technology

“The foundation of a counter-insider threat program needs to start with recognizing there is a person at the other end,” says Keith Lowry, former Chief of Staff to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Human Intelligence, Counterintelligence and Security at the Pentagon in this article on ZDNet: Fighting the person should be cybersecurity best practice When…

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The Mind of a Spy

Journalist James Rosen recently produced an excellent piece called, “The Mind of a Spy,” and interviewed Dr. David Charney about Robert Hanssen, the thought process of someone who decides to spy, and the NOIR concept as a potential solution to preventing and stopping espionage. The show aired on Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.   Psychiatrist…

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Ana Montes NOIR

The Ideological Spy: Ana Montes and the Havana Starbucks

By John Irvin, NOIR Team On 17 December, 2014, President Obama ordered restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba and the opening of a US embassy in Havana for the first time in more than 50 years. The announcement was met with both favorable and critical responses from a variety of interested parties. Of the many…

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