Simulations are a key component in counterterrorism training, but they’re most effective when they are teeming with realism.

So when counterterrorism expert Stephen Sloan co-authored his latest book on the subject, “Red Teams and Counterterrorism Training,” he asked his wife, Professor Roberta Sloan, THEA, to write a chapter on the vital role dramatic techniques can play in the creation of believable role-playing.

“It’s important because if the personnel playing terrorists are not convincing, then the reality of the exercise is diminished and the training is not as professional and productive as it should be,” she says. “My chapter is a mini-manual on what, if you are not an actor, you need to do in order to portray a terrorist convincingly.”

For example, a terrorist from a Middle Eastern culture would have a far smaller personal space than an American. “That person, indeed, may stand close enough so that their breath goes into the other person’s face when speaking,” Sloan says.

It’s the attention to details like posture, stance, movement, or even ways of eating that help make the situation seem real. However, Sloan doesn’t expect participants to master the art of acting for this part of their job. “When I think of mastery in acting, that takes years and years of work,” she says.

Since his first book in 1981, “Simulating Terrorism,” Stephen Sloan has conducted simulations all over the world for police and military personnel; Roberta Sloan has participated in two of them.

“That was enough for me,” she says. “After all, I’m an actress myself and really get into my roles, so I found that playing a terrorist was ultimately very upsetting to me.”

Sloan hopes her chapter, lauded by reviewers for its “innovative approach,” will result in security personnel “being better trained to defend our nation against the ongoing threat of terrorism.”

“Red Teams and Counterterrorism Training,” published by University of Oklahoma Press and co-authored by Robert J. Bunker, will be released in May 2011. It includes a forward by David Boren, president of the University of Oklahoma, a former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.