Currently - Playing Spies - BBC Sounds Gordon Corera investigates Russia's new front line of amateur espionage.

SOC ACE researcher Matthew Redhead interviewed by journalist Gordon Corera for BBC Radio4 documentary Playing Spies. Petty criminals and serious organised crime are now being used as tools of spycraft & state threats. Broadcast Sunday 30 November. Listen to it www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Research from @Kathryn Westmore and RUSI @cfs-rusi.bsky.social: Flying Money, Hidden Threat.
Chinese money laundering organisations (CMLOs) use tradition & modern methods; answering China’s capital controls, diaspora, & criminality. A state threat?
Read: bit.ly/4ieUcQ9
Project page: bit.ly/3JyGk6m

Women and Illicit Finance in Russia’s Occupation of Ukraine — SOC ACE This research paper takes a gendered view of Russia’s use of illicit financial flows (IFF) in occupied Ukraine, by examining the role of women as both victims and perpetrators. The paper sheds light ...

New research by Dr Orly Stern & Olivia Allison's “Women, Illicit Financial Flows, and Occupation: A Gendered Analysis...”

Challenging views on female victimhood & agency in Russian illicit finance in Ukraine

Read it - bit.ly/4orNIPZ

Visit the project - bit.ly/4orOOLB

#GenderAndConflict #Ukraine

Flying Money, Hidden Threat: The Growth of Chinese Money Laundering Organisations Join us for a panel discussion launching our research paper investigating the proliferation and success of Chinese money laundering operations.

SOC ACE and RUSI researcher Kathryn Westmore launches her research on Chinese Money Laundering Organisations (CMLOs) at RUSI on 12/11/25.
Exploring CMLOs in the West and asking 'are acting on the Chinese state behalf'.
Register to join - bit.ly/48Pp1bs
See Kathryn’s SOC ACE page - bit.ly/3Jw1kuf

Trump says six were killed in US strike on another boat allegedly carrying drugs near Venezuela UN has condemned US strikes on small boats it believes to be trafficking drugs as extrajudicial executions

Militarised responses to SOC are a policy conundrum. The Guardian reports US naval strikes on Venezuelan 'narco-terrorists' - bit.ly/3W2NG4C

See Luke Kelly's SOC ACE annotated bibliography Militarised Approaches to Serious and Organised Crime: Approaches and Policy Implications - bit.ly/4nKBNMM

Old Wine, New Bottles? The Challenge of State Threats — SOC ACE From the combination of traditional intelligence tradecraft with new technologies, attempts to innovate, a willingness to take greater risks, and a growing willingness to contract out activities to bo...

Wagner-sponsored arsonists covicted; UK citizens paid by Russian proxy to burn down a London warehouse storing aid for Ukriane - highlights the role of serious organised crime and state threats. Read @cfs-rusi.bsky.social Rusi's Matthew Redhead on State Threats at Socace's site - bit.ly/4eK7HW6 -

📢 And watch this space for more research and analysis coming out of this work, with a series of synthesis papers from kicking off soon! New papers on Russia, China, Iran, DPRK, cyber, organised crime, illicit finance, information manipulation, proliferation beyond the West, concepts and more.

5/5

4. Shape a coherent, comprehensive and prioritised set of responses
5. Take an approach based on partnership, both domestically and internationally.

Lots of implications for the UK's new National Security Strategy #NSS2025 and beyond.

4/5

The note also sets out 5 implications for future policy, based on @matthewrr.bsky.social's research:

1. Avoid wishful thinking and ignorance when assessing threats & vulnerabilities
2. Understand opponents' thinking
3. Ask whether the current resilience-focused model of response is enough

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The briefing note sets out:

- what state threats are
- why we seem to be having a state threats 'moment'
- mapping state threats across covert & clandestine measures, origins and execution, patterns of activity & motives
- novelty and effectiveness of state threats
- state threats futures.

2/5

Out now, a new @soc-ace.bsky.social briefing note on @matthewrr.bsky.social's big paper on #statethreats. This research builds on longstanding collaboration with @cfs-rusi.bsky.social. Both the must read paper & brief are at bit.ly/44mF262.

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Our last newsletter for 2024 has just gone out, and it's a big one! 👇

Sign up to receive our newsletter at socace-research.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe?id...

Insights from the latest research by Daniel Haberly:

🚨 Mismatch in financial regulatory focus
⚖️ Disconnect between AML/CFT compliance & transparency
🌐 Regulatory gaps in major economies (USA, China)

🔗 RIFF dataset: bit.ly/3ZMcHDL
🔗 Working paper: bit.ly/3ZMcHDL

#GIACE #TransparencyMatters

UK should pay whistleblowers to cut financial crime, says think-tank Royal United Services Institute says scheme would reduce those who take information to US agencies

Excited to see this great article from Suzi Ring & Martin Arnold in the @financialtimes.com yesterday covering new @soc-ace.bsky.social & @cfs-rusi.bsky.social research by Eliza Lockhart on potential financial rewards for economic crime whistleblowers. 👇

www.ft.com/content/2ebb...

Smuggling along the new silk road: The role of Global Trade Hubs (GTH) — SOC ACE The project evaluates the role of Global Trade Hubs (GTH) along the maritime Silk Road in facilitating illicit activities, particularly smuggling, leveraging proven methods based on mirror trade stati...

@samibensassi.bsky.social and other colleagues at the University of Birmingham have a new SOC ACE research project on the role of global trade hubs in #smuggling along the ‘new Silk Road’.

For more info on this project see - www.socace-research.org.uk/projects/smu... 👇

📢 A new #openaccess paper from @samibensassi.bsky.social and Arisyi Raz on whether or not #FATF is an effective tool for combatting trade-related #fraud.

Click below for the journal article 👇

To find out more about the research project - www.socace-research.org.uk/projects/23-...

Negotiating with criminal groups: Colombia’s Total Peace policy — SOC ACE This research results from the opportunity provided by the approval and implementation of the Total Peace policy in Colombia, a country that, despite the signature of a peace process in 2016, still ha...

This episode features Mariana Botero, Felipe Botero and Juanita Duran.

To find out more about the research project go to www.socace-research.org.uk/projects/32-... 👇

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - The Podcast The Deep Dive podcast takes an in depth look at transnational organized crime investigations from the Global Initiative, drawing on the range of expertise from the GI Network of over 500 experts.

📢 A new podcast from GI-TOC and the 2nd in a series on SOC ACE's research project on Colombia's #TotalPeace plan. The team discuss the 2022 truce signed by 2 gangs in the coastal town of Buenaventura & what the research is telling us about the impact on violence.
globalinitiative.net/analysis/dee...

Upcoming webinar on #illicitfinance from our friends over at @giace.bsky.social 👇

Illicit Finance as a National Security Threat: Balancing Security and Unintended Consequences In recent decades, illicit finance has evolved from being considered an adjunct to other security threats, such as organised crime or terrorism, to a security threat in its own right. For an issue ...

Kicking off my Bluesky account with a new hot off-the-press publication in the @rusi.bsky.social RUSI Journal: 'Illicit Finance as a National Security Threat: Balancing Security and Unintended Consequences'.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

#illicitfinance #nationalsecurity

📢 Launch event for new research by @cfs-rusi.bsky.social's Eliza Lockhart on the impact of financial rewards for whistleblowers in the fight against #economiccrime.

Click below for the link to register for the event. 👇

Find out more about the research: www.socace-research.org.uk/projects/whi...

At least 6 mercenaries with Russia's Wagner group killed in an extremist attack in Mali At least six Russian mercenaries were killed in an attack by an al-Qaida-linked group in central Mali, according to a statement by the extremists on its media platform.

"JNIM, said it ambushed a convoy of mercenaries working for the Wagner Group on Thursday in the Mopti region, killing fighters and burning vehicles."
apnews.com/article/mali...

Negotiating with criminal groups: Colombia’s Total Peace policy — SOC ACE This research results from the opportunity provided by the approval and implementation of the Total Peace policy in Colombia, a country that, despite the signature of a peace process in 2016, still ha...

SOC ACE Research Programme project website: www.socace-research.org.uk/projects/32-...

Team in the podcast: 🤩
Felipe Botero, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime
Juantia Duran, Laboratorio de Justicia y Política Criminal
Kyle Johnson, Conflict Responses

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - The Podcast The Deep Dive podcast takes an in depth look at transnational organized crime investigations from the Global Initiative, drawing on the range of expertise from the GI Network of over 500 experts.

A second podcast episode in a series looking at research on Colombia's #TotalPeace plan is coming soon! In the meantime, here's the first episode from 28th Oct for those who would like to catch up with what the research team have been doing. 👇

globalinitiative.net/analysis/dee...

Welcome to friends at @openownership.bsky.social! 👇

New SOC ACE researchers Starter Pack! 🤩

Keep on top of their great research on organised crime, illicit finance, kleptocracy, corruption etc with SOC ACE, and beyond. 👇

Will update as & when more people join 🦋. 👀

go.bsky.app/Tfr9XtB

I have put together a starter pack of those who I follow in the NATSEC, war studies and #Ukraine communities. This is just an initial list - it is sure to expand.

go.bsky.app/pfbxoC

Reconciliation API The Reconciliation API is a service designed to help users match their data against the Offshore Leaks Database. This document provides an overview of the API's capabilities, structure, and usage.

The #OffshoreLeaks Database just got a major upgrade! Our new API lets you match your own data with ours in real time. #Researchers, #journalists and regulators: This is your chance to dig deeper and more efficiently! Comment with any questions below.

The scourge of corporate secrecy A concerted push towards open-access data is needed to fight dirty money

Cracking oped from @financialtimes.com editorial board, calling for public registers of beneficial ownership to end 'The scourge of corporate secrecy' (and citing @taxjusticenet.bsky.social, thank you kindly) www.ft.com/content/0bb3...