Kevin E. Smith

Background

About Kevin E. Smith

I am an expert and consultant on counterterrorism and I specialize in analyzing, understanding, and countering terrorist threats, including lone actor terrorist attacks. I have over 27 years of experience as a federal and state prosecutor, including as a former U.S. Department of Justice federal counterterrorism prosecutor and as a former homicide prosecutor. I have designed the curricula of fundamental and advanced behavioral threat assessment training courses for the prevention of active shooter and mass casualty attacks. I have delivered these training courses to a wide variety of thousands of security stakeholders, including law enforcement personnel from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service, and the Major Crimes Division and Threat Management Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department. I was the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council (ATAC) Coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, a 7-county federal judicial district which is the most populous in the country. As a U.S. Department of Justice federal counterterrorism prosecutor, I led and directed Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) in conducting national security investigations of U.S. State Department designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and U.S-based violent extremists. I was the lead prosecutor in the investigation and successful prosecution of a group of U.S-based violent extremists who sought to wage a war of terrorism against the U.S. by targeting military personnel in recruitment centers and other innocent civilians. The case concluded with the group leader and other members convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges in U.S. District Court and sentenced to federal prison terms. I have personally interrogated U.S-based violent extremists regarding radicalization, recruitment, target selection, and pre-attack preparation. I have provided testimony in Congress before the full U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee regarding prison radicalization and U.S-based violent extremists. I have trained thousands of security stakeholders on the topics of domestic violent extremism, sovereign citizen violent extremism, lone actor terrorism, prison radicalization, and radicalized insider threats. I have taught a graduate-level Terrorism course for a California State University M.S. in Criminology & Criminal Justice program and have taught Terrorism & The Law at an ABA accredited law school.