DAVID L. CHARNEY, MD
Threat Management & Family Support Services
Dr. David L. Charney, MD is the Founder and Medical Director of Roundhouse Square Counseling Center, in Alexandria, Virginia. He specializes in Anxiety and Mood Disorders, Couples and Family Therapy, as well as Attention Deficit Disorder in adults. In addition to his usual practice, he has also treated personnel from within the Intelligence Community. As a result of unusual circumstances, he had the opportunity to join the defense team of his first spy case, Earl Pitts. Subsequently, Plato Cacheris, the attorney of Robert Hanssen, invited Dr. Charney to join his defense team, which added a further dimension to his experience. With the addition of his third spy case, Brian Regan, Dr. Charney further deepened his knowledge of the psychological nuances of captured spies.
As a member of their defense teams, Dr. Charney was perceived by these insider spies as an understanding and supportive figure, which lowered their defensive mindsets, and provided a truer picture of their inner lives. Many common assumptions of spy motivation were brought into question by Dr. Charney’s work.
Dr. Charney elaborated his findings in Part One of his White Paper, entitled True Psychology of the Insider Spy. Part Two of his White Paper, entitled NOIR: A White Paper – Proposing a New Policy for Improving National Security by Fixing the Problem of Insider Spies, lays out Dr. Charney’s innovative and perhaps controversial recommendations for making use of what he learned to better manage the problem of insider spies. To educate and promote these concepts and ideas, he founded NOIR for USA, a non-profit organization.
In 1968, Dr. Charney earned his medical degree at the Upstate Medical Center, State University of New York, in Syracuse. After his psychiatric training, he served in the United States Air Force for two years before starting his private practice of Adult Psychiatry in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia.
In 1979, he expanded his practice, adding specialization in Anxiety Disorders. Subsequently, he added other specializations, including Mood Disorders, Couples and Family Therapy, the treatment of Eating Disorders, Adult Children of Alcoholics, and Adult Attention Deficit Disorder.
For many years, Dr. Charney has been the host of his own cable television show, Psychiatry Today, on Comcast Cable in Alexandria. Since 1975, Dr. Charney has taught psychiatric residents at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University, where he holds the academic rank of Associate Clinical Professor.