What use are terrorist financing "indicators" ?

An analysis of FINTRAC's latest operational alert

In December 2022, FINTRAC released an operational alert for terrorist activity financing.¹ The purpose of these alerts is to support reporting entities in recognizing and reporting terrorist financing by providing indicators of terrorist activity financing. So let’s take a look and see what they’re saying about terrorist financing in Canada.

🌶 Let me begin with this caveat: this is a bit of a spicy newsletter. I’m extremely skeptical about the utility of indicators for detecting terrorist financing, and I have a lot of concerns about how these are applied. I offer this critique with the best of intentions and even offer some ideas for how to develop better indicators (something I’ve done a ~lot~ of in my career). Anyway, with that out of the way, buckle up, it’s gonna be a ride.