Q&A with Adam Lankford on Counterterrorism and Terrorist Psychology
Updated September 24, 2026
In this 2011 interview, University of Alabama criminology chair Adam Lankford describes what a counterterrorism career actually looks like: work spans the FBI, the wider Intelligence Community, and state and local law enforcement, plus specialists like linguists and accountants. Education and hiring requirements vary by agency, role, and grade, so check the specific position before assuming one path fits all.
CriminalJusticePrograms.com speaks with Dr. Adam Lankford, Chair and Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of Alabama. His current research spans criminology, mass shootings, sexual-frustration theory, suicide terrorism, and violent crime, building on his early work on terrorist indoctrination and recruitment. He is the author of Human Killing Machines: Systematic Indoctrination in Iran, Nazi Germany, Al Qaeda, and Abu Ghraib.
This interview was conducted circa 2011. References below to “ten years since 9/11,” the Giffords assassination attempt, the Norway attacks, and predictions about the decade ahead reflect that period, not current analysis.
Meet the Expert
What is your current position?
I am a criminal justice professor at The University of Alabama.
What made you interested in counterterrorism research?
I was a senior undergraduate student on 9/11. In fact, I was about to head to class when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Like many Americans, I felt like it was a call to duty – there was an instant need for new thinkers to figure out how to protect this country more effectively. Even before that point, I had been interested in criminal psychology, so after the attacks, I decided to specialize in terrorist psychology. I wanted to know why the 9/11 hijackers attacked us, what the future threat would be, and ultimately, how to stop them.
Inside Counterterrorism Research
Can you describe your research – what are some of the conclusions that you were able to draw?
Sure, my research has covered different areas of counterterrorism and international security issues, including brainwashing and terrorist indoctrination, online terrorist recruitment strategies, government interrogation tactics, terrorist rehabilitation, and the psychology of suicide terrorists.
In general, most rank-and-file terrorists – those who don’t carry out suicide attacks – are very similar to you and me – they have similar fears, and they respond to similar pressures and incentives. This means that the better you understand people – yourself, your friends, your family, the people you see at school or work, and the people you see on the street – the better equipped you are to understand terrorists.
But of course, the key is that you need to be able to differentiate between what is applicable to counterterrorism and what’s not. If you can begin to understand the underlying aspects of human nature, you can use that knowledge to explain why people choose to become terrorists, how to get them to talk in the interrogation room, and how to rehabilitate them (in the cases where that’s still possible).
What would you say is one of the biggest misconceptions about terrorism?
The biggest misconception is something I’ve been working to reverse for the past few years: the assumption that suicide terrorists are psychologically normal. It’s been ten years since 9/11, but many experts still claim that the 19 terrorist hijackers who struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were essentially Al Qaeda’s version of our Navy SEALs. They claim that these suicide terrorists, and other suicide bombers all around the world, are just so fully committed to the cause and so unafraid of death that they’re willing to courageously sacrifice their lives for what they believe in.
The truth is that most suicide terrorists are motivated by personal problems and suicidal tendencies, more than politics or religion. New studies and psychological assessments of suicide terrorists strongly support this fact. There are millions of people who have extreme ideological views, and many thousands of regular terrorists who are willing to kill for what they believe in. What makes suicide terrorists different from everyone else is that they’re usually struggling with various combinations of depression, hopelessness, guilt, shame, and rage. This makes them very similar to other people who commit conventional suicide and murder-suicide.
The suicide-terrorism conclusions above are Lankford’s own research interpretation, not a settled consensus in the field.
Building a Counterterrorism Career
What advice do you have for someone interested in a counterterrorism career?
There are a lot of different job opportunities in the counterterrorism field: positions for analysts within the Intelligence Community, positions for Special Agents with the FBI, and positions for law enforcement officers, accountants, lawyers, linguists, and other types of employees throughout the country.
Students should choose the career path that fits their strengths by thinking about what they do best and how they want to spend their time. Do you get energized by sitting at a desk, digging through documents, and searching for clues in order to build a case that will put a terrorist suspect behind bars? Can you spend hours reading, analyzing, and writing and still remain focused? Or do you prefer being on your feet, out in the field, as an intelligence operative either at home or abroad, building relationships with assets who can provide vital information, or going on missions to bring terrorists to justice?
What kind of educational background is needed for this career?
If you want to become an intelligence analyst or counterterrorism expert where your job relies on brainpower, you need to get a Master’s degree, at the very least. By having one, you distinguish yourself from many other college graduates, and frankly, it shows that you’re a serious student who is committed to professional success. There are many employers in the field who get bombarded by applications from new college graduates, and they basically disregard them unless you have a graduate degree.
But just having a Master’s degree is not a magic ticket. The quality of your graduate program and the quality of your professors make a big difference as well. If your future employer can see that you have a reference letter from a professor whose name they know and whose accomplishments they respect, that can get you in the door. And then it’s up to you to perform, and perform at a high level.
Current Requirements Vary by Role
Lankford’s graduate-degree advice above reflects what he recommended when interviewed. Hiring standards run on their own logic today, and they differ by agency and position grade rather than following one degree ladder. The FBI’s Intelligence Analyst track currently lists a bachelor’s degree as the baseline at several grades, with candidates evaluated through a three-phase Intelligence Analyst Selection Process: an online analytic and logical-reasoning test, a timed writing assessment, and a structured interview (fbijobs.gov). FBI Special Agent eligibility runs on a separate track entirely: a bachelor’s degree plus two years of qualifying professional experience, or one year with an advanced degree, on top of age requirements (23-36), a valid driver’s license, and physical, medical, and firearms qualifications (fbijobs.gov). There’s no single counterterrorism license or certifying body that covers the field. What you need depends on the specific job: FBI Special Agent, FBI Intelligence Analyst, a DHS intelligence position, state or local law enforcement, or a supporting role as an attorney, accountant, or linguist, each with its own qualification system.
The Landscape, as Lankford Saw It in 2011
What are the realities vs. perceptions of counterterrorism efforts?
The perception is that over the past decade, there has been a lot of important progress made in improving our national security. And it’s true that Al Qaeda’s terrorist organization appears far weaker today than it did 10 years ago. Killing Osama bin Laden was a major accomplishment, and many other leaders and operatives have been killed or captured as well.
However, the reality is that no one knows for sure whether or not new airport security screening policies, for instance, have made us any safer – or whether we’ve just gotten lucky to not have a major terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. It’s entirely possible that we’ve spent billions of dollars and wasted a great deal of time simply so that we’d feel safer. There are many reasons to think that airports are still not very secure, and it’s undeniable that there are still many soft targets which remain incredibly vulnerable, such as schools, malls, shopping centers, and so on.
Overall, there is still a lot of work to be done, and people looking for a career in counterterrorism will have plenty of challenges to tackle.
In your opinion, what do you need to succeed in a counterterrorism career?
The short answer is that you need the ability to predict the future. Or at least you need to be able to predict the future better than the terrorists can, in order to stay one step ahead. Counterterrorism professionals need to be proactive, not reactive, because we care far more about preventing attacks and saving lives than about punishing terrorists after something catastrophic has already happened. If an attack occurs, then in some sense the terrorists have already won that exchange – so we don’t want to even get to that point.
Along these same lines, the 9/11 Commission determined that the September 11th attacks were actually preventable, and that the biggest failure was our security officials’ failure of imagination. So, in our program, we teach students how to combine their creativity and imagination with critical thinking skills, pattern recognition skills, comparative analysis skills, and theory application skills, so they can use all existing knowledge from the past to make sound predictions and threat assessments for the future.
In addition, students need to learn how to be quick learners – how to master new information or a new challenge as fast as possible. No one knows for sure what’s going to happen on the terrorism landscape 10 years from now, so whatever it is, we want our students to be prepared to respond to it in a thoughtful and informed manner.
What Lankford Predicted for the Decade Ahead (in 2011)
What do you see for the future of counterterrorism efforts?
Domestically, I expect there to be increased counterterrorism focus on lone wolves and homegrown groups. Recent attacks, such as the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona and the combined bombing/shooting attacks in Norway, show that one killer can paralyze a nation in fear – at least in the short term. Furthermore, weapons are getting cheaper and more powerful, which allows individual terrorists and small groups to do increasingly more damage. This is going to be a major challenge in the years to come.
Can you describe your book Human Killing Machines – how can someone interested in pursuing counterterrorism benefit from the book?
Sure, the book shows how powerful organizations can recruit and indoctrinate ordinary people and then compel them to carry out horrific acts of violence on command. It covers several different kinds of violence, including torture, terrorism, and genocide. Ultimately, it makes several important contributions. First, it reveals underlying aspects of human nature, which make people vulnerable to being manipulated and misled. By knowing about our own weaknesses, we can begin to take steps to make sure we don’t fall into similar traps. Second, it highlights the violent potential of coercive organizations, and the strategies they often use to ensure obedience. Third, it makes specific recommendations for how we can begin to reduce Al Qaeda terrorists’ commitment to their missions, improve the U.S. military and increase its accountability, and undermine the dangerous regime in Iran.
Frequently Asked Questions
What degree do you need for a counterterrorism career?
It depends on the specific role and agency, not one universal requirement. Lankford recommended graduate education for analyst-track careers when he was interviewed in 2011. Current hiring pathways vary: the FBI’s Intelligence Analyst track, for example, lists a bachelor’s degree as the baseline at several grades and evaluates candidates through a multi-phase testing and interview process rather than a fixed degree ladder.
What agencies hire counterterrorism professionals?
The field spans the Intelligence Community, the FBI’s Special Agent and Intelligence Analyst tracks, state and local law enforcement, and supporting roles for accountants, attorneys, and linguists who work counterterrorism cases from a different angle. Each of these has its own qualification system, security-clearance requirements, and employing agency.
Is counterterrorism work mostly desk-based or field-based?
Both, and the split depends on the role. In his interview, Lankford described analyst work as long hours reading, writing, and building a case from documents. More broadly, intelligence analysis can support threat assessment, collection management, targeting, and policy work, not only criminal prosecutions. Field and intelligence-operative roles, as Lankford described them, mean building relationships with sources and running missions at home or abroad, though that describes particular operations and intelligence positions rather than field counterterrorism work generally.
Why do suicide terrorists choose to attack?
Lankford’s research argues that suicide terrorists are more often driven by personal crisis, depression, and suicidal tendencies than by pure ideological commitment, a theory he says puts them closer to people who commit conventional suicide or murder-suicide than to a disciplined “warrior” profile. This is his research conclusion, not a settled consensus in the field.
Key Takeaways
- Education and hiring requirements vary by agency, role, and grade. – Lankford recommended graduate education for analyst careers when interviewed in 2011. Current FBI Intelligence Analyst openings, for example, list a bachelor’s degree as the baseline at several grades.
- The job rewards psychological insight, not just tactical skill. – Understanding ordinary human motivation is what lets professionals understand and anticipate terrorist behavior.
- The field prizes prediction over reaction. – Success means combining imagination, critical thinking, and pattern recognition to see a threat before it happens, not investigating after the fact.
- Lankford’s research argues that personal crisis and suicidal tendencies can be important factors in suicide terrorism. – That’s his research conclusion, drawn from his own studies, not settled consensus in the field.
If a counterterrorism career sounds like the right fit, the next step is seeing what the counter-terrorism career actually demands day-to-day and what it pays.
Photo: Zachary Riggins
Read more expert interviews with criminal justice professionals.