Threat and risk assessment have become an integral part of counterterrorism strategies. This process currently relies heavily on the judgment of professionals, who play a vital role in a potentially high-stakes environment. However, thus far, little research focuses on the professionals themselves. This study provides insight into the experiences and opinions of professional threat and risk assessors, particularly regarding how they conduct terrorism risk assessments, their expectations for training, and the experience and characteristics of those that conduct them. An online survey solicited quantitative and qualitative responses from a sample of 41 professional threat assessors. The findings highlight that the training and experience required differ greatly across different disciplines involved, and the importance of considering the context in which threat and risk assessment takes place. These findings also highlight cognitive abilities and personality characteristics that may be desirable for risk assessors in this context, and provide avenues for further research to examine the role of these factors in risk assessment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved
