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Tom Neer

Tom Neer Thomas Neer’s diverse and distinguished law enforcement and intelligence career spans over forty years of government service. Following his work with Federal Bureau of Prisons between 1977 and 1979, Mr. Neer served five years with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in Washington, D.C., Norfolk and Hawaii before embarking on a 25-year career as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Today, in addition to consulting on cases in the private sector, Mr. Neer continues to provide behavioral support to the Federal government, most recently at the Office of Counterintelligence, U.S. Department of Energy, where he analyzes threats of potential espionage, sabotage and workplace violence.

The breadth of Mr. Neer’s experience comes from his participation in a variety of unique and complex criminal, counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations. During the second half of his FBI career, Mr. Neer served in the prestigious Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) in Quantico, Virginia where he analyzed violent crimes and offenders, including serial and mass murderers, rapists, child abductors, and violent extremists. While in the BAU, Mr. Neer travelled extensively within the U.S. and overseas to provide the FBI and requesting law enforcement agencies with behavioral analyses, risk assessments, and interviewing strategies on challenging high-profile cases.

Mr. Neer’s examination of interpersonal violence expanded after 9/11 to include exploring the motivational pathways of violent extremists in an effort to improve threat assessments, formulate non-coercive interview strategies, and provide insights on FBI undercover operations. These responsibilities required substantial travel to Guantanamo Bay as well as deployments to combat zones. During 2004, Mr. Neer served as the FBI’s principal behavioral advisor for the interview of Saddam Hussein, a project closely monitored by the White House. In 2007, Mr. Neer was deployed to Afghanistan to assist in an FBI-DOD counter-IED initiative where information from his interviews of failed suicide attackers was used to reduce risks for military personnel. From 2009 to 2013, Mr. Neer contracted with the FBI’s Directorate of Intelligence to implement a behavioral assessment program that focused specifically on source development and validation.

Between 2011 and 2016, Mr. Neer served as a Senior Consultant for the Soufan Group, a New York-based counterterrorism firm, participating in two international studies: Risk Reduction-Countering Violent Extremism (2013), and Countering Extremist Narratives (2013). He is a co-editor of Criminal Poisoning: Clinical & Forensic Perspectives (Jones and Bartlett, 2009) and co-author of Terrorism and Violent Extremism, in Van Hasselt and Bourke’s, The Handbook of Behavioral Criminology (Springer, Cham, 2017)

Mr. Neer has provided extensive training on a variety of law enforcement and intelligence topics which share a central theme: using behavioral analysis of crimes and offenders to enhance investigations, threat assessments and threat mitigation strategies.

Mr. Neer holds a B.A. in Criminology from the University of Florida and is a candidate for an M.A. in International Relations at Tufts University. He has the following professional associations:

  • Associate Editor, Journal of Violence & Gender
  • Associate, American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS)
  • Associate, Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP)
  • Member, International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship (ICIAF)
  • Member, FBI Agents Association (FBIAA)