Thomas Neer

Senior Associate

Thomas Neer's distinguished and diverse 32-year law enforcement and intelligence career began with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, continued with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and concluded with 25 years as a Supervisory Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  The breadth and uniqueness of Mr. Neer's many assignments enabled him to acquire extensive experience in complex criminal, counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations. 

During the second half of his FBI career, Mr. Neer was assigned to the prestigious Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) in Quantico, Virginia, where he analyzed violent crimes and offenders, including serial and mass murderers, rapists, child abductors and violent extremists.  While working with this elite unit, Mr. Neer was frequently called to travel across the U.S. and abroad to provide the FBI and requesting law enforcement agencies with behavioral analyses, risk assessments, and interviewing strategies on challenging high-profile cases.  

Mr. Neer's wide-ranging operational assignments include extended deployments to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Following 9/11, he focused his attention on source development and on formulating non-coercive interrogation strategies for violent extremists.  This latter service required substantial travel to Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to several locations in the United States where extremists were planning terrorist attacks.  In 2004, Mr. Neer served in Iraq as the FBI's principal behavioral advisor on the Saddam Hussein Interrogation Team whose progress was being closely monitored by the White House. In 2007, Mr. Neer deployed to Afghanistan to support a counter-IED initiative that included interviewing failed suicide bombers. In 2009, he returned to Iraq to provide interrogation support for a highly influential al Qaeda detainee whose true identity went undetected for nearly a year.  

Mr. Neer has provided extensive training to both domestic and international audiences on a variety of law enforcement and intelligence topics, including interview and interrogation.  He is co-author of a 2010 Soufan Group study on terrorist disengagement programs in the Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Indonesia and Singapore. He is also co-author of the textbook, Forensic Toxicology: Clinical and Forensic Perspectives, which includes a chapter on the use of poisons by terrorists.

Mr. Neer has been the recipient numerous law enforcement and intelligence awards and commendations.  Prior to leaving the FBI in 2009, he assisted the Intelligence Science Board on a study regarding the art and science of educing information. Following this, he served on a highly visible working group of the Attorney General's Task Force on Interrogation whose recommendations to President Obama included creation of the Inter-agency High Value Interrogation Group (HIG).  Although officially retired as an agent, Mr. Neer continues to provide his expertise on law enforcement and intelligence issues through various consultancies.

Mr. Neer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminology from the University of Florida and is a candidate for a Master of Arts degree in International Affairs at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.