GRANITE CITY HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS OF 1963

Clinton R. Van Zandt, a 1963 graduate of GCHS, is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam and the current President of Van Zandt Associates, Inc., an international investigative support and threat assessment group that specializes in behavioral and forensic analysis.

Mr. Van Zandt was with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 25 years, to include service as a Supervisor in the FBI’s internationally known Behavioral Science or “Silence of the Lambs” Unit. In addition to his service as a “profiler,” he was also the FBI’s Chief Hostage Negotiator.

He received his undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University and his Masters and Doctorate degrees from the State University of New York. He has been published widely, with dozens of articles and books in the areas of criminal psychology, crisis management, hostage negotiations, and violence in the workplace.

Mr. Van Zandt has been the primary hostage negotiator for numerous national and international kidnap, hostage, and barricade situations, and has provided expert witness testimony in both state and federal court, and before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He was a member of the FBI Academy’s Editorial Review Board, an FBI Academy faculty member, and adjunct faculty member of the University of Virginia, and a member of many national law enforcement and security-related advisory boards.

He has been acknowledged as the team leader of the analytical team that assisted in identifying Theodore J. Kaczynski as “the Unabomber,” as well as being credited with correctly profiling Oklahoma City Federal Building bomber Timothy McVeigh on the day of that fatal bombing. In addition, he personally negotiated with Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh in Waco, Texas.

Mr. Van Zandt has lectured on such topics as threat assessment, terrorism, criminal psychology, and violence in the workplace before many diverse groups such as the U.S. Naval Academy, the American Psychological Association, the American Society for Industrial Security, and at a number of major U.S. and international institutes of higher education. He was the keynote speaker at the first session of the International Police Training Academy in Budapest, Hungary, and has lectured before the Faculty of Law at Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada, and at The International Crimes of Deceit Conference in Melbourne, Australia. He is a former member of the U.S. Government’s Task Force on Terrorism, Chemical/Biological Sub Group, has deployed with the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, has worked with both Navy Seal Team 6 and U.S. Army Delta Force, and with the Government’s Nuclear Emergency Search Team.

Mr. Van Zandt has taught criminal justice and behavioral science-oriented courses in every state, as well as to the representatives of more than 50 international governments. He is a prominent and highly sought after speaker and corporate lecturer who has been profiled in many major new articles, to include The New Yorker Magazine. Court TV aired a special on his life, entitled “The Negotiator,” and he has served as a behavioral, law enforcement and terrorism consultant for many U.S. and foreign news organizations, to include over 2,500 national and international television appearances and as many radio and newspaper interviews.