Ep 73. Why students cancelled an AI surveillance contract

Help bring 'The Relentless School Nurse' home (Ep 2 rewind)

Robin Cogan, the former president of the National Association of School Nurses and the guest on episode 2 of my podcast back in June 2024 (Can School Nurses Prevent the Next School Shooting?) has been diagnosed with a sudden onset terminal illness while traveling out of state. Her family needs help paying for medical flight back to New Jersey. While I never met Robin in person, from my virtual interactions she was an extremely kind and caring woman who was committed to children’s wellness. Robin also setup our joint interview on the New England Journal of Medicine podcast (What We Don’t Know about School Shooter Drills — ITT Episode 18 [https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2308309]). Here is the info from Robin’s GoFundMe [https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-robin-home-r69n4?attribution_id=sl:d87150ae-729b-4c3a-9c07-2b55b0e8095a&lang=en_US&ts=1780505378&utm_campaign=pd_ss_icons&utm_content=amp17_tb-amp20_t1&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link]: Robin is one of those people who makes every room brighter — a devoted friend, colleague, and beloved member of the Nursing community. She has always been there for others, offering support and kindness in times of need. Now, Robin is facing a terminal diagnosis that came on suddenly and without warning, and she is currently hospitalized in Virginia, far from the home and family she loves in Cherry Hill, NJ. Her wish — and the wish of her family — is to bring her home, to be surrounded by the people who love her most in the place where she belongs. To make that possible, Robin needs to be transported by medical airplane. This is an expense her family simply cannot bear alone during this impossibly difficult time. The emotional and financial strain has been overwhelming, but the hope of bringing Robin home keeps everyone going. We are asking for your help to give Robin this gift: the chance to come home. No amount is too small. If you cannot give financially, please share this page — it makes a real difference. Your support means the world to Robin and her family, and together, we can help her return to the comfort and love of her community. Please consider donating to her GoFundMe [https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-robin-home-r69n4?attribution_id=sl:d87150ae-729b-4c3a-9c07-2b55b0e8095a&lang=en_US&ts=1780505378&utm_campaign=pd_ss_icons&utm_content=amp17_tb-amp20_t1&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link]. David Riedman [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-riedman-90088b132/], PhD is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database [http://k12ssdb.org/], Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm [https://www.merrillherzog.com/], and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my podcast—Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education & Security [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/podcast]—or my interviews on Freakonomics Radio [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/school-shooting-is-final-link-in] and the New England Journal of Medicine [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/keeping-schools-safe-with-evidence]. Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education, & Security is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education, & Security at riedmanreport.substack.com/subscribe [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Ep 74. Mom saves radicalized son from ending his life

Guest: Dana Grueser, mother [https://slowtechrevolution.substack.com/]. As someone who nearly lost my son to online radicalization by 764 & NVE, I spotlight dangers caused by addictive, unrestrained tech & help others prioritize real world experiences. Guest: Allizandra Herberhold [https://www.linkedin.com/in/allizandra-herberhold-lmsw-b2725616a/], LMSW, works with radicalized, at-risk, and violent teens and young adults to prevent mass shootings and counter violent extremism. * Ep 69. Going viral in extremist communities [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/ep-69-going-viral-in-extremist-communities]. Our last podcast about TCC and online radicalization is being reposted and critiqued by members of the True Crime Community. * Ep 60. Inside the True Crime Community (TCC) that grooms teens into school shooters [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/ep-60-inside-the-true-crime-community]. The last 7 school shooters were all connected with the same online group that shares violent gore content, fan art idolizing prior school shooters, and encourages members to commit real-world violence * Ep 57. TCC, gore videos, groypers, and online radicalization [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/ep-57-tcc-gore-videos-groypers-and] * 112 TCC-radicalized students identified by police in Jakarta, Indonesia [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/112-tcc-radicalized-students-identified?utm_source=publication-search] * Kids are watching a 2002 indie film about school shooters [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/kids-are-watching-a-2002-indie-film?utm_source=publication-search] David Riedman [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-riedman-90088b132/], PhD is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database [http://k12ssdb.org/], Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm [https://www.merrillherzog.com/], and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my podcast—Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education & Security [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/podcast]—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/school-shooting-is-final-link-in] and the New England Journal of Medicine [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/keeping-schools-safe-with-evidence]. Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education, & Security is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education, & Security at riedmanreport.substack.com/subscribe [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Ep 73. Why students cancelled an AI surveillance contract

Guest: Danny Otten [https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-otten/], PhD candidate in computer science and VP of the Graduate Student Association at William & Mary in Virginia Background: * William & Mary students vote to end AI surveillance contract [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/students-vote-to-end-ai-surveillance] * AI system failed to identify a school shooting in progress at Antioch High [https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/01/us/ai-gun-detection-software-antioch-school] * AI classified Doritos chips as a gun and then police pointed real guns at students [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/ai-classified-doritos-chips-as-a?utm_source=publication-search] * FTC take action on the false marketing claims of an AI metal detector company [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/ftc-takes-action-on-school-security] * AI camera system dispatch police for an active shooter who was a band student holding a clarinet [https://futurism.com/future-society/ai-surveillance-school-clarinet] * Another AI camera system dispatched an active shooter response for a student holding a bag of Doritos chips [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/ai-classified-doritos-chips-as-a] * CCTV system at a major university failed to record photos of the assailant entering or leaving the campus [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/brown-university-has-1200-security] David Riedman [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-riedman-90088b132/], PhD is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database [http://k12ssdb.org/], Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm [https://www.merrillherzog.com/], and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my podcast—Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education & Security [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/podcast]—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/school-shooting-is-final-link-in] and the New England Journal of Medicine [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/keeping-schools-safe-with-evidence]. Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education, & Security is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education, & Security at riedmanreport.substack.com/subscribe [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Ep 72. Secretary of Education on preventing school shootings

Guest: Dr. Daniel Hamlin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-hamlin-618b0821/] is the Oklahoma Secretary of Education, a Presidential Professor in education policy, and Faculty Director of the Oklahoma Center for Education Policy (OCEP) Paper: Stopping Violence Before It Starts: An Analysis of How Potential School Gun Attacks Are Exposed [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08862605261429532] Plain language summary: Four ways school shootings are averted [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/four-ways-school-shootings-are-averted] Abstract: Gun violence in U.S. schools continues to be a persistent concern. A promising line of scholarship focuses on potential school gun attacks that were stopped before they could occur, but this work is limited to a small number of studies. * This study investigates how potential school gun attacks were exposed by analyzing 124 publicly reported cases from 2018 to 2023. For the analysis, we generated descriptive data on the school contexts, individuals, and processes associated with exposing potential school gun attacks both on and off school grounds. * Findings indicated that in most cases, suspects communicated their intentions, which created opportunities for exposing potential attacks. Students were the most common source for exposure, reporting 42% of cases, while teachers, parents, and community members played smaller but important roles. * To illustrate the interacting factors behind exposing a potential attack, we further describe four recurring scenarios: (1) public signaling of intent, (2) private disclosures to confidants, (3) discovery of written plans or private communications, and (4) detection through safety measures. These pathways to exposing a threat suggest that positive relationships in schools, open lines of communication, and high expectations for reporting serious threats may be central to averting school gun attacks. Prior episode: Ep 24. Understanding Different Forms of Gun Violence in American Schools [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/ep-24-understanding-different-forms?utm_source=publication-search] David Riedman [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-riedman-90088b132/], PhD is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database [http://k12ssdb.org/], Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm [https://www.merrillherzog.com/], and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my podcast—Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education & Security [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/podcast]—or my interviews on Freakonomics Radio [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/school-shooting-is-final-link-in] and the New England Journal of Medicine [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/keeping-schools-safe-with-evidence]. Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education, & Security is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education, & Security at riedmanreport.substack.com/subscribe [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Ep 71. Terrorist attacks at schools and future of the war in Iran with Bruce Hoffman

Background: Terrorists attack 2 US schools on the same day [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/terrorists-attack-2-us-schools-on] Guest: Dr. Bruce Hoffman [https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/00336000014RVAcAAO/bruce-r-hoffman], Georgetown University, author of Inside Terrorism [https://cup.columbia.edu/book/inside-terrorism/9780231174770/] Professor Bruce Hoffman has been studying terrorism and insurgency for nearly five decades. He is a tenured professor in Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service where from 2010 to 2017 he was the Director of both the Center for Security Studies and of the Security Studies Program and from 2020-2023 the director of the Center for Jewish Civilization. In addition, Professor Hoffman is Professor Emeritus of Terrorism Studies at St Andrews University, Scotland. He previously held the Corporate Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency at the RAND Corporation and was also Director of RAND’s Washington, D.C. Office. Professor Hoffman also served as RAND’s Vice President for External Affairs and as Acting Director of RAND’s Center for Middle East Public Policy. Appointed by the U.S. Congress to serve as a commissioner on the Independent Commission to Review the FBI’s Post-9/11 Response to Terrorism and Radicalization, Professor Hoffman was a lead author of the commission’s final report. He was Scholar-in-Residence for Counterterrorism at the Central Intelligence Agency between 2004 and 2006; an adviser on counterterrorism to the Office of National Security Affairs, Coalition Provisional Authority, Baghdad, Iraq in 2004, and from 2004-2005 an adviser on counterinsurgency to the Strategy, Plans, and Analysis Office at Multi-National Forces-Iraq Headquarters, Baghdad. Professor Hoffman was also an adviser to the Iraq Study Group. Professor Hoffman was the founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where he was also Reader in International Relations and Chairman of the Department of International Relations. Professor Hoffman is Editor-in-Chief of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, the leading scholarly journal in the field. and a member of the advisory board of Terrorism and Political Violence. He is also editor of the Columbia University Press Series on Terrorism and Irregular Warfare. He has been a Distinguished Scholar, a Public Policy Scholar, a Senior Scholar, and a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C.; a Senior Fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.; a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel; and, a Visiting Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is also a contributing editor to The National Interest and a member of the Jamestown Foundation’s Board of Directors; a member of the board of advisers to the FBI Intelligence Analysts Association; and, serves on the advisory boards to the Arms Sales Monitoring Project at the Federation of American Scientists and of Our Voices Together: September 11 Friends and Families to Help Build a Safer, More Compassionate World. David Riedman [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-riedman-90088b132/], PhD is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database [http://k12ssdb.org/], Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm [https://www.merrillherzog.com/], and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my podcast—Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education & Security [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/podcast]—or my interviews on Freakonomics Radio [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/school-shooting-is-final-link-in] and the New England Journal of Medicine [https://k12ssdb.substack.com/p/keeping-schools-safe-with-evidence]. Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education, & Security is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education, & Security at riedmanreport.substack.com/subscribe [https://riedmanreport.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]