Matthew W. Doherty

Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Federal Practice

Matthew Doherty is widely recognized across the United States as among the most experienced senior experts in assessing an individual’s potential for danger and preventing targeted violence against our nation’s leaders and national critical infrastructure as well as major events and the corporate workplace. As Hillard Heintze’s Managing Director of the firm’s Federal Practice, Doherty enhances the delivery of the full spectrum of the firm’s services in strategic security and investigations to clients in the Washington D.C. area.

Doherty has managed training on threat assessment and targeted violence prevention for over 70,000 federal, state and local law enforcement personnel. He has created the first information-sharing database (TAVISS) for the prevention of violence against protected officials, including the U.S. President, Vice-President, cabinet secretaries and governors. He has also routinely briefed the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Justice Department and members of Congress on threat assessment methodologies.

Additional highlights of Doherty’s career in the Secret Service include providing daily briefs for U.S. Presidential and Vice Presidential Protective Divisions on threat investigations, and coordinating some of our nation’s most critical protective intelligence investigations, including supervising all visits by the President, Vice President and heads of states and coordinating all threat cases involving Members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices and Secret Service protectees.

In 1998, The Secret Service assigned Doherty to the Senate Judiciary Committee as a legis fellow and law enforcement advisor to U.S. Senator Charles Grassley. In this capacity, Doherty conducted investigations and provided policy guidance to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Administrative Oversight and the Courts Sub-Committee regarding legislative branch oversight issues such as the FBI’s handling of the TWA 800 crash, the Branch Davidian Incident at Waco and whistleblower protection as well as the activities of the Executive Branch Inspector General Offices. In October of 2000, he was assigned the task of creating the newly established Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center.

Doherty has received numerous awards and commendations including Treasury and Homeland Security Departments for Exceptional Service; U.S. Marshal Service Directors Award and the U.S. Capitol Police Chiefs Award for assisting in developing their threat assessment programs; the Department of Defense’s Counter Intelligence Field Activity Directors Award for developing joint partnership terrorism training and research with the Secret Service; a commendation from U.S. Senator Grassley for Exceptional Service in regards to Senate Judiciary investigations; and a commendation for the Oklahoma City Bombing Investigation.

Featured in numerous magazines, newspapers and television news media for major articles on insider threats, assassinations and school shootings, Doherty also serves on the U.S. Marshal Service Judicial Threats Center for preventing violence against judges. He is a law enforcement advisor and trustee award winner with the Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute, a congressionally chartered think tank supporting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.