Publications & Resources

Assessing And Profiling Non-Violent Insider Risk Actors In National Security

By Dr. Joshua Sinai

The risk of insider risks by disgruntled, politically extremist, and foreign agent current or former employees, whether in government, the military, or the private sector, has become a paramount concern for security managers. This article focuses on non-violent insider risks, while recognizing that some insiders might also carry out violent attacks against their current or former employers. Notable examples include Major Nidal Hasan, a radicalized jihadist, who carried out a mass shooting attack on November 5, 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 people and injuring 32 others. In another notable attack, on December 2, 2015, husband-and-wife Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, carried out a mass shooting attack against his fellow workers at the Inland Regional Center, in San Bernardino, CA, while they were celebrating at a Christmas party, killing 14 people and wounding 22 others. Numerous violent insider threats attacks have occurred since then in the United States and overseas.

Non-Violent Insider Risks

In terms of non-violent insider risks, since 2009, there have been numerous high-profile cases of break-ins and theft of proprietary data from highly classified IT systems by maliciously-intent insiders. These include Bradley Manning (2009) who had served in the U.S. Army, Edward Snowden (2013), who had worked as a contractor to the NSA, Charles Edward Littlejohn (2018-2020), who had worked as an IRS contractor, and Jack Douglas Teixeira (2023), an IT specialist airman in the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.

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