Helping the Secret Service assess dangerous minds

As staff psychologist at the U.S. Secret Service, Margaret Coggins safeguards the nation?s leaders.

By Bridget Murray
Monitor staff

Outside the window of Margaret Coggins?s office, framed against the backdrop of the Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial, an American flag flies at half mast over the White House, just two blocks away.

Most days that flag, standing its quiet sentinel at full-staff, is reminder enough to Coggins, chief of behavioral research at the United States Secret Service, and her colleagues of their heavy responsibility: Protect U.S. leaders and visiting heads of state, and their families. Protect them at all costs.

That those costs are high proved tragically true in the waning days of July when two Capitol police officers were shot to death by a suspect who, it turned out, was previously investigated by the Secret Service as potentially dangerous. With flags in Washington ordered at half-mast after the tragedy, the Secret Service, among other agencies, continues to look for answers and ways to keep such incidents from happening again.

One of those who will help with the answers is Coggins, who, although she is not an armed agent with an ear piece, nevertheless looks the part with her straight-pin posture, tailored suit and alert manner.

'We receive thousands of cases a year that we need to investigate, and we take every single case seriously,' says Coggins. 'From someone who writes a rambling love letter, to a person intercepted at an airport with a weapon heading to D.C., to a drunken person at a bar overheard saying ?I want to kill the president,? we?re worried about all those cases.'

Secret Service work requires staff to be watchful?a measure of vigilance required to shield government dignitaries from the likes of Russell E. Weston Jr., the mentally ill Montana suspect now in custody in the Capitol shootings. Secret Service staff turn every threat against the president inside out.

As the agency?s chief of behavioral research, Coggins applies her sharp eye to the agency?s important but lesser-known 'protective intelligence' mission: When called on, she and her staff design and conduct research on the assessment and management of violent behavior. They help agents use mental health information and systems to determine how dangerous certain individuals are. In addition, they help agents coordinate mental health evaluations and treatment for those who need it. And they advise mental health practitioners about indicators of violence towards public officials.

'The guidance provided by Coggins and her staff is an important asset to agents faced daily with making very difficult decisions about people who may pose a risk to the safety of our nation?s leaders,' says Lewis Merletti, director of the Secret Service.

Heading up this work in an organization where efficiency is the credo, Coggins can?t afford to overlook a detail. On her desk, not a paper is askew.

'She is extremely level-headed, very pragmatic, and that doesn?t hurt in her work with Secret Service personnel,' says her colleague, Randy Otto, PhD, president of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology. 'Instead of theory, they want quick, straight answers, someone to advise them, ?What do we do here?? And whereas it?s sometimes hard to get a straight answer out of a university professor, Margaret gives them the real-life answers they need.'

Misplaced blame or illness?

The Secret Service stepped up its mental health focus in the 1980s when agents noticed high rates of mental illness among people who threaten public officials. One catalyst was the assassination attempt on President Reagan in March 1981, after which the gunman, John Hinckley, Jr., was acquitted by reason of insanity.

Secret Service records reveal that at least 50 percent of people who come to the agency?s attention because of inappropriate interest in a protectee are either mentally ill or have a mental illness history. Weston is proof of this. However, since the agents that investigate potentially threatening behaviors aren?t professionally trained in mental health issues, the agency has established the Mental Health Liaison Program, overseen in part by Coggins?s behavioral research office, to help. Now, as agents investigate cases, they often call on Coggins?s office, and other mental health consultants in Secret Service field offices, for guidance.

In some cases misplaced blame rather than a mental health problem underlies a threat, says Coggins. For example a person might blame the president for troubles collecting her social security check. In other cases, mental problems?desperation, an imagined relationship with the president or delusions of grandeur?prompt the threat, she says. Coggins can?t talk about specific cases. But she does talk generally about the sort of questions agents ask her.

'It could be as innocuous as, ?What is this medication used for?? Or it could be, ?This person?s been in and out of mental hospitals for 20 years, so could you review everything we?ve got and see what you think is going on with this person??' says Coggins. The questions can also be more general ones about the relationship between mental illness and violent behavior.

Coggins might advise agents to talk to a suspect?s roommate or refer them to helpful mental health resources.

Few incidents of 'inappropriate interest in the president'?for example, a delusional relationship with him, a misdirected grievance against government or a desperate plea for help with a personal problem?turn out to be serious, says Coggins. But, if a person shows signs of endangering an official, the agency will interview that person to prevent violence and ensure the official?s safety. Investigations more often result in admission to a mental health facility or treatment program than in arrest, says Coggins.

Research to protect

Also helping agents protect officials is the outcomes-oriented research Coggins? office conducts on how to better identify and manage mental illness that sometimes precipitates attacks on officials. One recent study, presented last year at the State Mental Health Forensic Directors Eighteenth Annual Conference, explores characteristics of 'visitors' who approached the White House, demanded to see the president and were referred by the Secret Service for psychiatric evaluation due to acute symptoms of mental illness.

According to the study, treatment centers released most of those referred following relatively short psychiatric evaluations. Very few were civilly committed. Just 11 percent were arrested, primarily for unlawful entry. Most traveled to the White House from outside the Washington, D.C., area. And some later returned to the White House, forcing agents to again refer them for psychiatric evaluations. The results point to a need for Secret Service and mental health care systems to work closely to link those people with regular outpatient treatment, says Coggins.

In other research, Coggins and her colleagues investigated why mental health practitioners are so hesitant to report clients who threaten public officials. (Only 12 percent of referrals come from therapists.) Curious about the low rate, Coggins?s office recently surveyed 592 practitioners about their reporting attitudes. According to the findings, published in 1996 in Psychiatric Services (Vol. 47, No. 8, 832?836), most therapists know little about the Secret Service, and most said they would only be willing to report threats under limited conditions. Many worry that reporting a client would jeopardize confidentiality.

Law and psychology meet

A major part of Coggins?s job is assuaging therapists? concerns about reporting threats. 'Being a savvy agency, we know therapists are concerned about confidentiality,' says Coggins. So, instead of seizing control of potentially dangerous clients, the Secret Service staff works with therapists to manage those clients? treatment, she says. (Practitioners can report threats or other unusual interest in the president by contacting any Secret Service field office or the agency?s Intelligence Division. Secret Service telephone numbers are listed in the front pages or U.S. government section of local telephone directories.)

To raise mental health practitioners? awareness of the Secret Service mission, Coggins presents papers at numerous mental health conferences, and she works with groups such as APA?s Div. 41 (American Psychology-Law Society). In turn, she trains Secret Service agents in mental health basics and briefs agency administrators on developments in mental health research and policy that are relevant to the agency?s mission.

'The most important thing I do in my work is bring law enforcement together with mental health and behavioral science,' says Coggins. And, she says, her Secret Service co-workers constantly reinforce her commitment to her work. Their vigilant attention to detail?and their support of one another in protecting the president?is unwavering, she says.

'I have never been around a group of people that is so dedicated and so committed,' she says. 'We talk about ourselves as the Secret Service family, because we?re such a close-knit group of professionals.'

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