He is a Consulting Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Breckenridge's current research focuses on psychological factors that underlie political violence. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where he teaches a graduate course on fear management and the psychology of terrorism. Dr. Breckenridge is the principal investigator on a variety of funded research projects investigating psychological aspects of terrorism and homeland security, including a grant from the National Science Foundation to evaluate psychological measures for detecting deception and improving national security evaluations. This grant was part of a broader effort intended to guide Congressional priorities for the relevant future research agenda. Dr. Breckenridge is the Principal Investigator on a Medical Response Corps grant funded by the Department of Health and Human Services to develop an evidenced-based psychological early response to acts of terror. He also leads a national study supported by the Department of Homeland Security on psychological criticality, exploring emotional responses to terrorist threats and related aspects of risk communication. Dr. Breckenridge directs additional security-related psychological research projects in conjunction with various national security organizations.

In August 2006, Dr. Breckenridge, along with nineteen other academics and twenty Government personnel from various intelligence agencies, participated in the Summer Hard Problem Program (SHARP) sponsored by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In a classified setting, SHARP explored intelligence implications of factors that cause individuals or communities to coalesce into terrorist movements. Recently, Dr. Breckenridge was awarded an Academic Fellowship on Terrorism from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and will participate in their intensive program at Tel Aviv University in Israel this summer. Dr. Breckenridge is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Society of Terrorism Research and an Associate Editor of the forthcoming journal Terrorism Research. Together with his colleague, Philip G. Zimbardo, Dr. Breckenridge is an author and editor of forthcoming texts on aspects of psychology and homeland security.