DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
ALCOHOL, DRUG ABUSE, AND MENTAL HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

 

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH
5600 FISHERS LANE
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND 20852
AREA CODE 202 TEL: 655-4000

July 24, 1975

Prof. Joshua Lederberg

Department of Genetics

Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, California 94305

Dear Josh:

Thank you for your letter of July 1 requesting bibliographical data concern-
ing bargaining behavior in connection with hostages. I am just about to
leave the office for summer vacation and don't have any references immediately
at hand, but my recollection is that there were two recent articles on this
topic in the Police Chief (published monthly by the International Association
of Chiefs of Police) and the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. You might also
like to call or write Mr. Peter Jaszi who is the Research Director for

the National Advisory Task Force on Disorders and Terrorism which has
recently been funded by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration

(LEAA) and which has its offices at 2139 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20007, Tel: (202) 686-3800. Mr. Jaszi's staff has been developing

a bibliography on the subject of terrorism and should be in a position to
provide you with additional references that will draw on experiences with
hostage situations in the United States and in other countries.

Beyond this, you might like to contact Frank Ochberg when he returns from
vacation about mid-August. Frank is currently the Director of the Division
of Mental Health Service Programs in NIMH and has also been serving on the
National Advisory Committee to the aforementioned LEAA Task Force. He was
in New York last month for one of this committee's meetings and took part
in a full day of training along with field commanders of the New York
Police Department in techniques for the handling of hostage situations.

As a matter of fact, I would urge that you also write directly to the Chief
of the New York City police department and request information about their
program and techniques for handling hostage situations. They do have a

consultant working with them on the program -- a psychologist or psychiatrist.

I presume, Josh, that you are well aware of the Conference on Terrorism and
Terrorists that was sponsored by the Institute for Social and Behavioral .
Pathology, at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
(Stanford), in July of 1973. They do have a conference proceedings which
they should be able to send you, if you don't already have a copy.
Prof. Joshua Lederberg - 2
‘July 24, 1975

Finally, let me give you some of my own brief thoughts on the matter of
bargaining with terrorists or offenders in connection with hostages. Since
the knowledge and information base, as well as related techniques, pertain

to the topic of bargaining, I would imagine that a study of the relevant
literature on bargaining might be of some general value. However, I would
look for materials which approximate as much as possible the particular
sub-set of the bargaining situation of particular concern to you. For
example, bargaining in situations of industrial strikes, especially where
tensions have gotten very high and there has been considerable polarizing

of the issues. More sedate business-type bargaining behaviors might not be
of much relevance at all. Also, the variables in the hostage situation are
such that much of the available theoretical information about bargaining may
not account for too much, other than providing some general background and
awareness of some major controlling factors in proximate situations. When
faced with a hostage situation (involving terrorists and criminals), I would
wish to have available that particular senior police or related official who
has actually had experience with these or related situations, who has had
several years of field experience and is not primarily an administrator, who
has demonstrated through past behavior an ability to maintain a calm manner,
clear thinking, considerable patience, and who has a value system in which
resort to use of force (or related escalation) is used only as a last resort.
Given the especially tense and dangerous situation involved, and given also
the likely consequences of errors of judgment, I would not be very confortable
with clinicians, academicians, and theoreticians who have had no experience
in such situations -- especially when the lives of others and their own might
literally be on the line. It is for this reason that I think of the kind of
experienced police official mentioned above, rather than persons with primarily
theoretical knowledge.

Of course, there are a wide variety of situations and actors involved in
the hostage-taking situation. Clearly, there would be occasions when a
particular clinician (e.g., some one who knows, has worked with, and con-
tinues tOhave a reasonably good relationship with the hostage-taker),
clergymen, or other such persons might also be quite useful. However,

if I were to bet I would go with the person with the most relevant and
successful experience in that particular situation, a person quite experienced
in dealing with a variety of life-and-death situations of the kind hostage-
taking and related criminal and terrorist acts can lead to, and some one
with a demonstrated ability to stay cool and yet firm in such extremely
tense and volatile situations.

 

Certainly, a careful study of a variety of hostage-taking situations and
episodes, just how they were handled, who were the actors, and what were
the outcomes, etc., would seem to be an extremely important piece of
research to undertake. Behavioral and social scientists, as well as police
Prof. Joshua Lederberg - 3
July 24, 1975

and related personnel, would seem to be key persons in such a joint
endeavor. However, as indicated above, the Law Enforcement Assistance
Administration is studying the topic. The Police Foundation (located
in Washington, D.C.) and the International Association of Chiefs of
Police might be other agencies with both interest and some information
on the topic.

I trust the above information is of help to you. It has been a long time
since we last met and I do miss our periodic meetings and conversations
when you were on the NIMH Council. Enclosed are a couple of items that
may be of interest to you.

Sincerely,

    

Saleem A. Shah
Chief, Center for Studies
of Crime and Delinquency

Enclosures