This article critiques the six tenets of Saudi Arabia’s terrorism risk reduction initiative using two social psychology theories: identity theory and frame alignment theory. The search for personal identity is considered one of the motivations most likely to render detainees susceptible to new belief systems and may work either in favour of, or against, disengagement efforts. Accordingly, the main methods of counter-measures usually target a person’s identity and where they fit within an ideology. While empirical studies have demonstrated that disengaged terrorists often retain a radical interpretation of the Qur’an, but that retaining such an interpretation does not necessarily cause those individuals to revert to terrorism Consequently, if participants in the Saudi initiative do not fully embrace a newfound identity as one who espouses moderate Islam, they might develop identities as those who refrain from violence. With regards to the second theory, frame alignment theory is especially relevant to the second element of the Saudi initiative whereby Imams and/or other counter-ideologues argue in favor of moderate Islam. Through this approach, it is argued that anything that can be done to fortify the perception of moderate Imams as objective, accurate framers of the Qur’an will likely increase their chances of succeeding in contributing to participants’ rehabilitation. Among the recurring themes throughout the critique is the need for effective, individually tailored, rehabilitation programming for participants: both in and out of custody and the importance of applying theory to available data as opposed just focussing on case study analysis.