Insight Monitor Dispatches
Cold, dark January 2025
Hello from Calgary, Insight Monitor subscribers! This week, I’m out west, getting ready to undertake some research on sanctions, ransomware, and cryptocurrency, looking at both state and nonstate actors. I’m enjoying sunny Calgary, especially in contrast to cold Ottawa, where temperatures are hovering around -20 Celcius. I’ll have more to share on the Calgary work over the next year, but for now, this is a post-doctoral position with the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law. Anyway, I have a few updates for you on ITI’s illicit financing work:
Secure Line: The Podcast
The most exciting news is that I’m launching a new podcast with Leah West and Stephanie Carvin (whom many of you will know from A Podcast Called Intrepid). You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Here’s a short synopsis of what Secure Line is about:
Canada's intelligence landscape is as unique as the country itself. In an evolving global threat environment, fostering informed discussions on intelligence has become increasingly vital to the national security discourse. Secure Line Podcast is designed to influence and inform the national dialogue on security and intelligence in Canada, and internationally. Secure Line is brought to you by the Canadian Association for Security & Intelligence Studies (CASIS).
I also recently spoke to a couple of journalists about illicit finance issues. The IJF asked me about the impact of prorogation on financial crime in Canada, and I had some strong words about Canada’s lack of a financial crimes agency. However, many of the other updates to legislation proposed in the fall economic statement are things that will likely go forward when the House is back, or when we have a new government. That is, unless a new government wants to do a major overhaul of some of our legislation, in which case important updates will likely be years in the making. Never mind that we are staring down the barrel of a FATF mutual evaluation.
I also spoke to Money Laundering Bulletin about Lebanon and Hizballah financing:
Financial Profile of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham
In case you missed it yesterday, we released the financial profile of the defacto governing body of Syria.
writes that “the current political situation presents both a risk and an opportunity—either a path towards rampant corruption or increased stability in the region.”Militants to Ministers: The Financial Profile of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham
At the start of December 2024, Bashar al-Assad fled Syria, and his regime collapsed following Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) advance on Aleppo. The group was able to successfully carry out the campaign due to a variety of factors, including HTS’s extensive operational planning and the Assad regime’s relative military weakness. Despite being designated as a
We also updated our case study library, a core part of our course on Terrorist Financing Analysis and the Insight Threat Intelligence Academy with an attack profile on the Crocus City Hall attack. We took a close look at the claims of cryptocurrency financing for the attack.
Financial Intelligence Fundamentals
Do you want to learn more about financial intelligence and how to use it in research, investigations, and analysis? Our financial intelligence fundamentals course is for you! This course is perfect for people new to financial intelligence and seasoned professionals. Enroll today
That’s it for updates this week. Be sure to check out our course offerings to take your knowledge of illicit financing to the next level. Stay tuned for tomorrow when we release our attack financing profile of the ISIL-inspired New Orleans terrorist attack, and next week for the second part of our December Global Terrorist Financing report, with all the news about terrorist financing from last month. And if you find this newsletter insightful, please share it!
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