Jess Davis
@jessmarindavis.bsky.social
PhD. Social scientist and entrepreneur combining research and practice. Illicit finance expert, newsletter writer, consultant. Working to stop bad people from doing bad things with money. Co-host of Secure Line podcast.
🗞From the Insight Monitor archives, here's a look at what happens economically when a Taylor Swift concert is threatened with a terrorist attack -- even one that is disrupted. 🧐 newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/taylor-swi...
Taylor Swift and the Economics of Terrorism
The economic impacts of disrupted plots
newsletter.insightthreatintel.com
Great new piece by @markfollman.bsky.social Inside a mass shooter’s harrowing history with ChatGPT. A year of chats reveals glaring red flags—and disturbing ChatGPT replies—from long before a rampage at Florida State University. www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
Inside a mass shooter’s harrowing history with ChatGPT
A year of chats reveals glaring red flags—and disturbing ChatGPT replies—from long before a rampage at Florida State University.
motherjones.com
Strong agree with the Commissioner here: the registry is about transparency. But the real challenge comes in enforcing both the registry and laws against foreign interference in Canada. And that largely comes down to the RCMP. 👀 www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
New foreign influence office won't prevent foreign interference, commissioner says | CBC News
Canada's new foreign influence office won't prevent foreign interference in Canada, but it will provide more transparency for Canadians who want to know who is trying to influence their politicians an...
cbc.ca
🚨🗞Here's everything you might have missed last month from Insight Monitor -- be sure to have a read, get caught up, and share with a colleague! newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/following-...
Following the Money
Recap of Insight Monitor for July 2026
newsletter.insightthreatintel.com
"The month before his arrest, Yaroch allegedly asked ChatGPT: “If you had a bucket of money (around $1 million) and you wanted to leave the USA and become a resident or citizen of an EU country, what would you do?”" www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/p...
FBI agent accused of stealing nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency | CNN Politics
An FBI agent stole more than $900,000 in cryptocurrency from accounts the agency was monitoring after he said he became frustrated by what he saw as government inaction over the misuse of crypto accou...
cnn.com
Poilievre is not wrong: KH almost certainly meets the definition of a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code. However, listing KH will not have a meaningful impact on making Canada safer. Only improved enforcement can do that. www.ipolitics.ca/2026/08/02/p...
Poilievre calls on Canada to designate Kata’ib Hezbollah as terror group
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the government to designate as a terrorist entity the Iranian-backed militia group accused of plotting attacks on a synagogue and the U.S. Consulate ...
ipolitics.ca
China's CBDC: "The landmark transfers signal China’s broader strategic effort to construct alternative cross-border clearing rails, accelerating the internationalisation of the Chinese currency while bypassing traditional, Western-centric financial networks" www.scmp.com/business/ban...
Chinese bank touts digital currency platform’s largest transfers yet
Bank of China uses mBridge for two cross-border transfers worth more than US$1.7 billion each, as CBDC platform gathers momentum.
scmp.com
This is an interesting read on why Canada is not a middle power, and how we should seek to inhabit the international system: thewalrus.ca/canada-middl...
Canada Keeps Calling Itself a Middle Power. It Isn’t | The Walrus
The idea once reflected geopolitical reality. Today it’s mostly a comforting illusion
thewalrus.ca
Iran cyberattacks targeting US water supplies: "since Monday “at least seven states have reported incidents to the F.B.I., and some of that activity degraded water operations.”" www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/u...
Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran
Michigan and Minnesota are among at least seven states coping with cyberattacks aimed at disrupting water systems nationwide.
nytimes.com
"the tradecraft used, and the absence of a ransom demand, had led analysts to tentatively conclude that it was the work of Iranian hackers" www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/u...
U.S. Sees Iran as Likely Behind Cyberattack on Minnesota Water Systems (Gift Article)
Investigators cautioned that the assessment was preliminary. There were no indications that any water supply had been rendered unsafe to drink.
nytimes.com
From the Insight Monitor archives, here's a look at how Iran uses cryptocurrency to fund its weapons program, war, and proxies and criminal surrogates. newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/the-axis-o...
The Axis of Illicit Finance: Iran’s Crypto Strategy Explained
Part 1 of a new 8-part series on Iran's use of cryptocurrency for sanctions evasion
newsletter.insightthreatintel.com
Really interesting details in this case: The Foxtrot murder broker offered £21,000, and the cash and guns were hidden in the UK bbc.com/news/article...
Teenage Norwegian 'hitman' guilty of UK murder plot
Johannes Natland travelled to Huddersfield to carry out a 'hit' in March last year.
bbc.com
🗞From the Insight Monitor archives, here's a look at how terrorists hide the source, destination, and use of money (financial tradecraft). If this isn't part of your analysis of #TerroristFinancing, you're not doing it right 👀 newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/obscuring-...
Obscuring the Money Behind the Bombs: New Data on Terrorist Financial Tradecraft
How terrorists are hiding the source, destination, and use of funds -- and what to do about it
newsletter.insightthreatintel.com
"declining Iranian influence in several regional arenas, particularly Syria and Iraq, had directly weakened Hezbollah’s financial capacity" english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5...
Hezbollah Cash Crunch Stalls Lebanon War Compensation
Compensation for victims of the latest war with Israel has stalled, with neither the Lebanese state nor Hezbollah putting forward a mechanism to begin payments. Damage surveys are continuing in severa...
english.aawsat.com
"Iranian officials said some migrant-smuggling routes are controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps...and its unit 700, the logistics branch of the IRGC Qods Force" www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/07...
telegraph.co.uk
From the Insight Monitor archives, here's a look at how ransom payments affect the terrorist threat: newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/how-much-b...
How Much Bang for the Buck? Exploring the Effects of Ransom Payments on Terrorist Activity in West Africa
Insight Monitor Research reads review
newsletter.insightthreatintel.com
NATO SHAPE HQ arrest: "a Canadian intern at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military headquarters had been arrested on suspicion of spying for another country" www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/w...
Canadian Intern at NATO Military HQ Is Arrested on Suspicion of Spying (Gift Article)
The authorities in Belgium did not name the country that the intern, a woman “of Chinese origin,” is suspected of spying for.
nytimes.com
One of the most rewarding parts of this project has been making research more accessible. 🚨Terrorist Use of Hybrid Threat Finance Networks🚨 www.projectcraaft.eu/research-bri...
Terrorist Use of Hybrid Threat Finance Networks — Project CRAAFT
This research briefing by Jessica Davis examines how terrorist financing is increasingly conducted through “hybrid threat finance networks” that combine traditional financial systems with digital asse...
projectcraaft.eu
A critical humanitarian and security issue is unfolding: "essential goods would become unavailable in short order if the relationship between Israeli and Palestinian banks is undone" www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/w...
Israeli Banks Threaten to Cut Off Palestinian Economy (Gift Article)
Two Israeli financial firms have long served as partners to Palestinian banks, handling transactions that make possible the West Bank’s imports and exports.
nytimes.com
"granting her the freedom to promote and profit from her involvement in the convoy protest — the very activity for which she's serving a sentence — brings "disrepute" to the judicial process that led to her conviction." www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Convoy leader Tamara Lich asking court's permission to visit White House, go on cruise | CBC News
Tamara Lich, a key figure in the 2022 convoy protest that paralyzed downtown Ottawa for nearly a month, was back in court Wednesday to ask for permission to travel internationally, including going on ...
cbc.ca
A fairly haunting headline from the Norwegian Police Security Service: "15 years since July 22: More people are inspired by Breivik." Adds that "the threat from far-right extremism is greater today than it was in 2011."
15 år siden 22. juli: Flere inspireres av Breivik - pst.no
15 år etter terrorangrepet registrerer PST en økning av personer som viser at de er inspirert av Anders Behring Breiviks handlinger. Trusselen fra høyreekstreme er større i dag enn den var i 2011.
pst.no
Another terrorism charge in Canada....and will be one to watch. He's being charged for things he said at a protest. "Hajahmad faces one count of participating in or contributing to activities of a terrorist group" globalnews.ca/news/1197596...
Toronto pro-Palestinian protester charged with terrorism over alleged Hamas links | Globalnews.ca
Ahmad Hassan Hajahmad, 33, was arrested following a joint investigation by the Toronto police hate crime unit and the RCMP national security team.
globalnews.ca
💸Summer is the perfect time to invest in yourself. Whether work is a little quieter or you're planning for the busy months ahead, now is the ideal opportunity to build practical skills that will pay dividends all year.
Introduction to Financial Intelligence
What is financial intelligence (FININT), and how can it be used? This lesson explains what FININT is and how it fits into the intelligence cycle, and how it advances intelligence analysis and operatio...
insightthreatintelligence.thinkific.com
I'm delighted to share that Michael Nesbitt and I have been awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant for our new research project: 📖 Bridging the Divide: Cryptocurrency, Sanctions Evasion, and the Fragmentation of Global Finance
Who wants to play a game? I just got an access to information request back from the RCMP. Let's see who can guess the date I submitted it! Reminder: the statutory timeframe for responding to the request is 30 days.
"the FBI has specifically been looking into donations Babochki made to ...financial fronts for blacklisted Palestinian groups... include Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and Samidoun" www.thefp.com/p/how-trust-...
How Fergie Chambers Built a Radical Funding Network and Landed in a Spanish Jail
The millionaire Marxist inherited $250m, now he's facing charges of supporting international terrorist groups.
thefp.com
If you are interested in learning more about Canadian National Security but don't know where to start, I'll be teaching the Practical Certificate in National Security with @npsia-ptd.bsky.social this August 19-20 (online!) carleton.ca/npsia-ptd/ca...
Canadian National Security - NPSIA-PT&D
The Practical Certificate in Canadian National Security National security is the condition achieved when a country is able to protect its social, economic
carleton.ca
I deleted my earlier estimate after finding an error in the code. The long list (18 pages) of affected goods is equivalent to just under 5% of Canadian goods imported into the US for consumption. That's not nothing, but it's not everything. Source for USTR data: dataweb.usitc.gov/trade/search...
DataWeb
dataweb.usitc.gov
Some more good coverage of FINTRAC's analysis of OTC crypto exchanges in Canada. Critical in this reporting is the emphasis on the need for law enforcement (not just regulatory work or monetary penalties) "Fines aren’t going to matter… That’s just a cost of doing business,” Davis said"
Crypto desks ‘knowingly’ help launder money, government report says
Intelligence report finds businesses facilitating sanctions evasion, drug dealing
theijf.org
