Improved Assessment of Personality Disorders that are Security Risks1

A key security challenge facing government agencies is prevention of insider threat attacks associated with trusted government employees, military personnel, and contractors. These attacks can take on a variety of forms, including espionage, terrorism and violence, compromise of information technology networks, and security incidents involving failure to adequately protect sensitive information and systems. Certain clinical personality disorders can increase the likelihood of insider threat; however, these disorders are difficult to diagnose with routine assessment tools that rely on the subject’s self-report. A further complicating factor is that there is insufficient information on which disorders could lead to compromised judgment, reliability, and trustworthiness. In the wake of tragic insider events, such as the 2009 Fort Hood Massacre, 2010 “WikiLeaks” compromise of sensitive information, and 2001 espionage conviction of Robert Hanssen, improving the identification of insiders with personality disorders associated with security and safety risks is critical.