Stuart Shulman, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director of the Qualitative Data Analysis Program (QDAP) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been invited to serve on the “Committee to Investigate the Relationship between Threatening Communications and Actual Behavior” within the Intelligence Division of the U.S. Secret Service.

The Committee, appointed by the National Research Council’s Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences, designed and will conduct a two day workshop on the relationship between threatening communication sent to Secret Service protectees and actual behavior. 

According to the National Research Council, research on the relationship of communication to risky behavior does not exist. The workshop is a first step toward examining communication factors and sparking a new research initiative within the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC). Findings from the workshop will provide NTAC with a foundation to build stronger strategies and more effective tools to defend those under Secret Service protection. 

The workshop will take place September 22-23, 2009 in Washington D.C.