# 028 - Barry Spodak and the birth of Behavior Threat Assessment Training

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/outside-the-secret-service-podcast-7337301/028-barry-spodak-and-the-birth-of-behavior-threat-assessment-training
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/outside-the-secret-service-podcast-7337301/028-barry-spodak-and-the-birth-of-behavior-threat-assessment-training.md
Podcast: [Outside the Secret Service Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/outside-the-secret-service-podcast-7337301)
Published: 2026-02-17T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://OTSecretService.podbean.com/e/inside-the-mind-barry-spodak-and-the-birth-of-threat-assessment/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/c4ga67z2x25svgwz/BarrySpodakFinal9c0yz-bz4svv-Optimized.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/outside-the-secret-service-podcast-7337301/episodes/028-barry-spodak-and-the-birth-of-behavior-threat-assessment-training
Duration seconds: 5928

## Resource

They tell you not to start a show with a "show stopper", so I saved this for Episode 2 of Season 2. Barry Spodak is a mostly-retired clinical specialist, senior consultant and trainer, whose simulation-based training and collaboration with researchers shaped behavioral threat assessment and protective intelligence for the U.S. Secret Service. The episode traces Spodak’s 40-year impact on generations of agents and officers: teaching them to interview people with mental illness, recognizing the ‘‘path to violence,’’ using realistic role-play simulations, and focusing on threat assessment and management to prevent targeted violence. Here is a link to the US Secret Service's Exceptional Case Study Project that started it all: https://nij.ojp.gov/library/publications/preventing-assassination-secret-service-exceptional-case-study-project

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## Transcript

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