Insider Spies: New Ideas to Counter the Threat

The Institute of World Politics

This is the Sixth Annual Brian Kelley Memorial Lecture at The Institute of World Politics. About Brian Kelley Memorial Lectures: The passing of Professor Brian Kelley was a grave loss to the Institute and to our country. His knowledge, experiences and dedication were at a level that is hard to match. In his time at IWP, he brought his own knowledge, as well as the knowledge of experts in the intelligence community, to help the students gain as much as they possibly could during their time at IWP. This lecture is meant to honor his memory and continue his tradition of providing students with the opportunity to hear comments from experts in their given careers within the intelligence community. About the Speaker: Dr. David L. Charney, MD is the Founder and Medical Director of Roundhouse Square Counseling Center, in Alexandria, Virginia. He specializes in Anxiety and Mood Disorders, Couples and Family Therapy, as well as Attention Deficit Disorder in adults. In addition to his usual practice, he has also treated personnel from within the Intelligence Community. As a result of unusual circumstances, he had the opportunity to join the defense team of his first spy case, Earl Pitts. Subsequently, Plato Cacheris, the attorney of Robert Hanssen, invited Dr. Charney to join his defense team, which added a further dimension to his experience. With the addition of his third spy case, Brian Regan, Dr. Charney further deepened his knowledge of the psychological nuances of captured spies. As a member of their defense teams, Dr. Charney was perceived by these insider spies as an understanding and supportive figure, which lowered their defensive mindsets, and provided a truer picture of their inner lives. Many common assumptions of spy motivation were brought into question by Dr. Charney’s work. Dr. Charney elaborated his findings in Part One of his White Paper, entitled True Psychology of the Insider Spy. Part Two of his White Paper, entitled NOIR: A White Paper – Proposing a New Policy for Improving National Security by Fixing the Problem of Insider Spies, lays out Dr. Charney’s innovative and perhaps controversial recommendations for making use of what he learned to better manage the problem of insider spies. To educate and promote these concepts and ideas, he founded NOIR for USA, a non-profit organization.