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.