U.S. Secret Service
National Threat Assessment Center
Chief Arthur J. Kelly, III (ret.)
Arthur Kelly serves as a consultant for the United States Department of Education, Office of
Safe and Drug-Free Schools. He serves as a faculty member and subject matter expert for
the American Prosecutors Research Institute of the National District Attorneys Association;
He also serves as a consultant to the Regional Community Policing Institute of New England
at Northeastern University, School of Criminal Justice. Chief Kelly has also served as a
consultant for the National Threat Assessment Center, United States Secret Service and as
an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Health Care Sciences at the George Washington
University, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C.
Co-Presenter: Megan K. Williams
Threat Assessment Specialist
U.S. Secret Service
National Threat Assessment Center
Ms Williams is a Threat Assessment Specialist with the U.S. Secret Service National Threat
Assessment Center, where she assists in various research projects and provides training for
Federal, state, and local law enforcement, pertaining to targeted violence, threat
assessment, and protective intelligence. Her work also includes research and training in
areas of targeted violence directed toward public figures, as well as cases of stalking,
workplace and school-based violence; reviewing relevant scientific and professional
literature on targeted violence; and representing the National Threat Assessment Center in
meetings, briefings, and conferences.
Ms Williams has been employed with the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment
Center since 2000, where she has also worked as a Social Sciences Research Specialist.
Ms. Williams received her B.S. in Sociology, with a minor in English, from York College of
Pennsylvania.
Presentation: “Preventing Targeted Violence in School: Findings from the Safe School
Initiative”
In response to concern about the safety of America’s schools and school children from acts
of targeted violence in school, the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education
conducted the Safe School Initiative, an operational analysis of school-based attacks in the
U.S. The primary goal of the Safe School Initiative has been to provide information about
the thinking and behaviors of students who have planned and carried out instances of
targeted violence in American schools. This presentation is intended for school
administrators and teachers, law enforcement professionals, mental health professionals,
concerned community members, and others.
The purpose of the presentation is to share findings and materials from the Safe School
Initiative that may help schools and communities better understand school-based attacks
and assist them in developing strategies that may result in earlier identification, assessment,
and intervention of students who pose a risk of targeted violence in schools. The
presentation will include a review of the Safe School Initiative, presentation of two school
shooting case studies, and discussion of threat assessment for evaluating the risk a student
may pose for of targeted violence in school.