Professor Pete Simi (Sociology) has received a $119,593 grant from the University of Nebraska Omaha’s National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE), a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence, to continue his research examining threats directed at public officials. The new award revives a line of research that was unexpectedly disrupted by recent federal funding changes. The funding will allow Simi and his collaborators to continue studying this growing area of concern while maintaining research opportunities for Chapman students.
This marks the sixth year of NCITE funding for Simi’s research program, bringing his total NCITE support over this period to more than $1.2 million. Simi’s first two NCITE-funded projects focused on barriers to reporting suspicious family activity. Since 2022, however, his research has focused on understanding threats communicated to public officials across four sectors: law enforcement and military personnel, election and elected officials, educators, and healthcare professionals.
The award continues to support opportunities for Chapman students to participate directly in the research process. Student researchers have played an important role in the project by collecting and coding data, reviewing court records, and helping analyze trends across hundreds of threat cases. Through this work, students gain practical experience in research methods, data analysis, and issues related to extremism, political violence, and homeland security.
The newly funded project will build directly on several years of data collection and analysis. Working with Chapman University Professor of Sociology Chris Bader and NCITE Senior Research Faculty Fellow Seamus Hughes, Simi will expand an existing dataset that tracks federally charged threat cases from 2013 forward to co-author a book manuscript, tentatively titled “When Words are a Crime: Understanding Threats to Public Officials.” The new award will allow the team to extend its examination of threats through 2026 and 2027, creating an even more robust picture of how these incidents evolve over time.
“Over the past several years, we’ve seen indications that threats directed toward public officials are increasing and expanding into new sectors,” said Simi. “By extending this dataset through 2027, we can better understand how the threat landscape is evolving and provide actionable information to practitioners and policymakers.”
Threats against public officials have steadily increased in recent years and are increasingly recognized as a significant challenge for both public safety and democratic governance. Simi’s research focuses on communicated threats, including verbal, written, and digital messages that express or imply harm toward public officials or those associated with them. Using publicly available court records and other open-source materials, the project examines patterns and trends without collecting private or confidential information.
Over the course of the project, the research team has assembled and coded hundreds of cases, produced widely distributed NCITE infographics, and shared findings with a broad range of end users, including the U.S. Capitol Police, National Security Council staff, intelligence professionals, and other homeland security partners. The work has also generated practitioner-focused publications, peer-reviewed scholarship, and ongoing public engagement efforts designed to help policymakers and security professionals better understand the changing threat landscape.
According to Simi, understanding these threats is critical because their effects can extend far beyond any single target. Threats can intimidate public servants, undermine confidence in democratic institutions, and influence whether individuals choose to remain in public-facing roles. By identifying which sectors face the most persistent threats and how those threats are communicated, the research can help inform prevention strategies, resource allocation, and policy development.
The latest award ensures the continuation of a long-running collaboration between Chapman University and NCITE while advancing research on a rapidly evolving challenge facing public officials across the United States.
