Chair: Dr Amanda Chisholm, Senior Lecturer in Security Studies / Researcher in Gender and Security

Speaker: Joshua Tjeransen, Research Assistant at the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS), King's College London. 

Discussant: Sasha Erskine, Research Analyst at the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, RUSI. 

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) is a term known to mean many things. To some, WMDs assure a nation’s safety whilst also acting as useful deterrent and guarantor of world peace. To others, WMDs do nothing but put people in jeopardy and allow for the potential of full-scale nuclear war. To this end, several regimes and treaties are in place to limit which nations can possess such weapons.

Several states which are not permitted to possess WMDs, such as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Iran, have made steps, either publicly or not, to further their WMD capabilities. Thankfully, provisions to curtail such ambitions do exist, examples include limits on dual use good exports, sanctions on persons and entities, and preventative financial measures. Proliferation financing is the act of attempting to move past these preventative measures. Proliferation financing can take many forms, but its primary aim is to secure the items, materials and expertise needed for WMD programmes.

Proliferation finance has unique ways of operating, by virtue of the fact that unlike other financial crime, it is not limited to the financial sector, instead it aims to infiltrate all sectors related to WMD programmes.

In this discussion, speakers will address why countering proliferation finance is so important to maintaining international security.

About the speaker

Joshua Tjeransen is a Research Assistant focusing on outreach activities, capacity building and investigation at the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS), his focus is proliferation finance, sanctions evasion and alternative payment methods.

Before working with CSSS, Joshua worked in the private financial sector in a compliance capacity focusing on anti-money laundering and sanctions evasion. Joshua also served as a Police Officer for four years whereby a large proportion of his work consisted of investigations into financial offences pertaining to the proceeds of crime.

Joshua holds a BA in Criminology and Criminal Justice and a MSc in Countering Organised Crime and Terrorism from University College London. Outside of work Joshua volunteers with Locate International, a charity focused on solving missing person cases. Joshua is also an active Rotarian.