Upcoming

• Lingua Tactica Webinar (April 29, 2026)

  • “Going Dark — What Language Tells Us Before the Silence”

    • In the Capital Gazette mass murder case, the perpetrator posted 871 tweets over four years and then went completely dark for 2.5 years before killing five journalists. His targets assumed he had moved on, but the offender did not disappear—he went operational. This session examines what his online language revealed, and what the sudden silence meant for risk through the lens of the TRAP-18.

    • Registration: https://lingua-tactica-webinar.eventbrite.com

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Pacific Southwest Chapter (May 2026)

  • “Tactical Linguistics as an Approach to Threat Assessment”

    • Written and spoken communications can contain critical warning indicators of intent, escalation and risk but those signals are often misunderstood or missed. Tactical Linguistics offers a systematic framework for analyzing language in operational environments, and helps law enforcement, security professionals and mental health specialists make informed decisions to prevent targeted violence. This presentation will explore the analysis of different types of linguistic evidence, drawing on case work and research studiesthat are applicable to counterterrorism, public safety and protective intelligence operations.

• University of California (June 2026)

  • “From Words to Evidence: Language Analysis in Active Investigations and Retrospective Studies”

    • This talk will provide an introduction to forensic and tactical linguistic methodologies in case work, operational take-aways from linguistic threat assessment studies, and the application of the Communications Threat Assessment Protocol-25 to a high-profile LAPD stalking case.

• Hawai’i Threat Assessment Conference (July 2026)

  • “Language as a Window into the Mind of the Lone Actor Terrorist”

    • We present findings comparing three complementary language assessment models applied to the same case materials of the Halle terrorism attack: (1) a manual forensic linguistic analysis of the perpetrator's manifesto (Kupper et al., 2024); (2) a structured coding of the TRAP-18 threat assessment instrument against the offender's pre-incident behaviors, with close analysis of three indicators (Kupper & Papadopulos, forthcoming); and (3) an AI-assisted analytic workflow examining the manifesto and pre-attack behavioral evidence. By applying human and AI-driven methods to the same case, we compare what each approach surfaces, misses and distorts. The presentation focuses on the application of language analysis for risk management for threat management professionals.

    • Co-presenter: Dr. Marvin Acklin

2026

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Winter Conference (February 2026)

  • “Digital Terrorism and the Evolving Threat of Nihilistic Violent Extremism” (in-person, Orlando, Florida)

    • Co-presenter: Matthew Kriner

• Lingua Tactica Webinar (March 25, 2026)

  • “Investigating Communications to Prevent Terrorism Attacks” (online)

2025

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Winter Conference (February 5, 2025)

  • “Decoding Terrorism: An Interdisciplinary Approach to a Lone-Actor Case”

    • Co-presenter: Dr. Sharon Smith (in-person; Orlando, Florida)

• International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship (February 27, 2025)

  • “Decoding Terrorism: An Interdisciplinary Approach to a Lone-Actor Case” (online)

    • Co-presenter: Dr. Sharon Smith

• Missouri Center for Education Safety and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Threat Assessment Summit (March 3, 2025)

  • “Language Evidence Designed to Incite Targeted Violence Attack” (in-person; Columbia, Missouri)

• Association of European Threat Assessment Professionals, Annual Conference (April 8, 2025)

  • “Decoding Terrorism: An Interdisciplinary Approach to a Lone-Actor Case”

    • Co-presenter: Marcus Papadopulos (in-person; Lugano, Switzerland)

• Jewish Federation Los Angeles — Community Security Initiative, Major City Security Summit (May 19, 2025)

  • “Linguistics and Threat Mitigation: Assessing Targeted Violence Communications” (in-person; Los Angeles, California)

• African Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (June 19, 2025)

  • “Terrorgram's Propaganda — An Overview of Publications Designed to Incite Accelerationist Terrorism Attacks” (online)

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Threat Management Conference (August 12, 2025)

  • “The Gazette Newspaper Targeted Attack — Social Media Analysis, Target Dispersion, and a Misanthropic State of Mind” (in-person; Anaheim, California)

    • Co-presenter: Dr. Reid Meloy

• Department of Justice, International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (September 8-12, 2025)

  • “The Terrorist Radicalization Assessment Protocol” (in-person; Pristina, Kosovo and Tirana, Albania)

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Great Plains Chapter (October 3, 2025)

  • “Investigating Communications to Prevent Targeted Violence” (in-person; Lincoln, Nebraska)

• Ministry of the Interior of Germany, Police University Rhineland-Palatinate (October 16, 2025)

  • “Tactical Linguistics as an Approach to Risk Assessment” (online)

2024

• Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Branch — Counterterrorism Division (January 9, 2024)

  • Closed-door meeting (in-person; FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C.)

• New Zealand Police, National Intelligence Centre — Security Intelligence Threats Group (January 25, 2024)

  • “Linguistics and Threat Mitigation: Assessing Targeted Violence Communications” (online)

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Winter Conference (February 6, 2024)

  • “Going Dark — The Inverse Relationship between Online and on the Ground Pre-offense Behaviors in Targeted Attackers” (in-person; Orlando, Florida)

• California State University (Long Beach), Communications and Violence Class (February 26, 2024)

  • “Going Dark — The Inverse Relationship between Online and on the Ground Pre-offense Behaviors in Targeted Attackers” (online)

• American Society for Industrial Security, South Carolina Chapter (February 27, 2024)

  • “Linguistics and Threat Mitigation: Assessing Targeted Violence Communications” (online)

• German Federal and State Police, hosted by Landeskriminalamt Nordrhein-Westfalen (March 5, 2024)

  • Training course “early detection and management of subjects with risk potential — police threat assessment” (online)

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Rocky Mountain Chapter (March 14, 2024)

  • “Linguistics and Threat Mitigation: Assessing Targeted Violence Communications” (in-person; Denver, Colorado)

• Federal Bureau of Investigation, San Diego Field Office (April 15, 2024)

  • “Linguistics and Threat Mitigation: Assessing Targeted Violence Communications” (online)

• Fixated Threat Assessment Centres, Australian and New Zealand Police (June 18, 2024)

  • “Linguistics and Threat Mitigation: Assessing Targeted Violence Communications” (online)

• Counter Terrorism Preparedness Network (June 27, 2024)

  • “Terrorgram’s Propaganda — An Overview of Publications Designed to Incite Accelerationist Terrorism Attacks” (online)

• New Zealand Police — National Intelligence Centre, Security Intelligence Threats Group (July 29, 2024)

  • “Terrorgram’s Propaganda — An Overview of Publications Designed to Incite Accelerationist Terrorism Attacks” (online)

• Marine Corps Insider Threat Hub, Department of Defense (September 12, 2024)

  • “Going Dark — The Inverse Relationship between Online and on the Ground Pre-offense Behaviors in Targeted Attackers” (online)

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Florida Chapter (October 17, 2024)

  • “Terrorgram's Propaganda — An Overview of Publications Designed to Incite Accelerationist Terrorism Attacks” (online)

• Canadian Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Annual Conference (November 7, 2024)

  • “The Gazette Newspaper Targeted Attack — Social Media Analysis, Target Dispersion, and a Misanthropic State of Mind”

    • Co-presenter: Dr. Reid Meloy (in-person; Whistler, Canada)

• Hofstra University, Institute for Forensic Linguistics, Threat Assessment and Strategic Analysis (November 26, 2024)

  • “Going Dark — The Inverse Relationship between Online and on the Ground Pre-offense Behaviors in Targeted Attackers” (online)

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Los Angeles Chapter (December 4, 2024)

  • “Copycat Behaviors — International Terrorism and Its Effects in Southern California”

    • Co-presenter: Dr. Nicolas Beliz (in-person; Los Angeles, California)

2023

• Global Network on Extremism and Technology (November 2, 2023)

  • Report launch: “Going Dark — The Inverse Relationship between Online and on the Ground Pre-offense Behaviors in Targeted Attackers”

    • Co-presenter: Dr. Reid Meloy (online)

• New Zealand Police, National Intelligence Centre — Security Intelligence Threats Group (October 30, 2023)

  • “Linguistics and Threat Mitigation: Assessing Targeted Violence Communications” (online)

• Canadian Symposium to Prevent Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism (October 24, 2023)

  • Panel discussion on “Militant Accelerationism” (in-person; Vancouver, Canada)

    • Co-panelists: Matthew Kriner and others

• Canadian Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (October 15-16, 2023 )

  • 2-day workshop on “Forensic and Tactical Linguistics 101” (in-person; Whistler, Canada)

• Department of Homeland Security, National Threat Evaluation and Reporting, Quarterly Webinar (September 26, 2023)

  • “Linguistics and Threat Mitigation: Assessing Targeted Violence Communications” (online)

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Threat Management Conference (August 15, 2023)

  • “A Retrospective Threat Assessment of the Hanau Terror Attack: Unraveling the Dynamics of Mental Disorder and Extremist Beliefs” (in-person; Anaheim, CA)

    • Co-presenter Dr. Reid Meloy 

• African Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (July 13, 2023)

  • “Forensic and Tactical Linguistics — Using Language to Assess Threats and Other Concerning Communications” (online)

• TARGET Corporation (July 12, 2023)

  • “Practical Forensic & Tactical Linguistics” (online)

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, South Central Chapter (June 6, 2023)

  • “Forensic Linguistics — Assessing Risk in Language Evidence” (online)

• Deutsche Hochschule der Polizei (German Police University; April 27, 2023)

  • “Der Terroranschlag von Hanau: ein gefährliches Zusammenspiel psychischer Erkrankungen und extremistischer Weltanschauungen” (online)

• Association of European Threat Assessment Professionals (April 25, 2023)

  • “An Introduction to Forensic & Tactical Linguistics” (in-person; Nürnberg, Germany)

• American Society for Industrial Security (April 19, 2023)

  • “Practical Forensic & Tactical Linguistics” (online)

• Federal Bureau of Investigation, Threat Assessment Regional Evaluation Team (April 17, 2023)

  • “Linguistics and Threat Mitigation: Assessing Risk in Language Evidence” (in-person; Los Angeles, CA)

• Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, School Resource Deputies (April 10, 2023)

  • “How to Use Language Evidence to Investigate Cases” (in-person; Los Angeles, CA)

• California State University, Long Beach — Communications and Violence class (March 1, 2023)

  • “An Introduction to Forensic & Tactical Linguistics” (online)

• Los Angeles Police Department, Divisional Training (February 14, 2023)

  • “Forensic and Tactical Linguistics” (in-person; Los Angeles, CA)

2022

• Accelerationism Research Consortium — Government Response Speaker Series (Nov 14, 2022)

  • “The Contagion and Copycat Effect in Transnational Far-right Terrorism” (online)

• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) — Behavioral Intervention Team (Oct 20, 2022)

  • “Forensic and Tactical Linguistics” (online)

• Canadian Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (Oct 18, 2022)

  • “Forensic Linguistics — Assessing Risk in Language Evidence” (in-person; Whistler, BC, Canada)

• Hofstra University — Institute for Forensic Linguistics, Threat Assessment and Strategic Analysis (Sep 27, 2022)

  • “Tactical Linguistics” (intensive course in “forensic linguistics”; online)

• University of Copenhagen, Denmark (Aug 22, 2022)

  • “Contagious Terrorism — The Linguistic Interconnectivity of Recent Far-Right Attacks” (online)

• American Psychological Association (Aug 6, 2022)

  • “Using Research and Tools to Better Understand the January 6th U.S. Capitol Riot” (in-person; Minneapolis, MN)

    • Focus: Terrorist Radicalization Assessment Protocol (TRAP-18)

• Gavin de Becker & Associates (Jul 14, 2022)

  • “Forensic Linguistics — Investigating Clues in Language Evidence” (in-person; Los Angeles, CA)

• Germanic Society for Forensic Linguistics (Feb 15, 2022)

  • “The Language of Suicidal Minds — Detecting Suicide Risk in Written Texts” (online)

  • Co-presenter: Dr. Amendra Shrestha

• Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics (Jan 27, 2022)

  • “Forensic Linguistics in a Threat Mitigation Environment — Assessing Risk in Targeted Violence Manifestos” (online)

2021

• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Los Angeles Chapter (Dec 16, 2021)

  • “Forensic Linguistics — How to Use Language Evidence to Investigate Cases” (in-person; Los Angeles, CA)