From 30 to 31 May 2019 in Washington, DC, King’s College London (KCL) conducted the second peer review meeting to complete development of a standardised training course on countering the financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) proliferation.

The purpose of the meeting was to review the comprehensive counterproliferation finance (CPF) curriculum and training materials. While some training tools on this topic already exist, this curriculum aims to set and disseminate CPF best practices by incorporating diverse expert feedback through structured peer-review sessions.

Key stakeholders, including U.S. Government and nongovernmental experts from the US, the EU, and Africa, gathered in Washington, DC to participate in the peer review exercise, highlighting the value of developing common definitions and shared standards on countering the financing of WMD proliferation among the practitioner community.

US Government participants included representatives from Departments of State, Treasury, Justice/FBI, and Homeland Security/Customs and Border Protection.

Leading proliferation finance specialists from non-governmental and research organisations as well as from private sector financial institutions also took part in the discussions.

The comprehensive curriculum includes two sets of training materials: one designed for a government audience and one for the financial institution/private sector. Each course consists of several modules that include lectures, case studies, and discussion questions which address both the export control measures and sanctions implementation practises in tandem.

The curriculum incorporates adult learning best practices, such as small group breakouts and self-reflective questions, to encourage absorption. The training capstone includes a tabletop exercise that tests participants’ understanding of key elements of the training.

This curriculum development project is funded by the Export Control and Border Security (EXBS) Program at the U.S. Department of State (https://www.state.gov/export-control-and-related-border-security-assistance-exbs/) and is led by Dr Ian Stewart and Mr Jean-Annet de Saint Rapt at KCL’s Project Alpha as well as the Hon Sue E. Eckert and Mr Leonard S. Spector.

Dr Stewart is the director of Project Alpha at King’s College London; he is a specialist on issues related to export controls, sanctions, and non-proliferation more generally. Dr Stewart has been the principal investigator on multiple grants related to non-proliferation and export controls for more than eight years.

Mr de Saint Rapt is the theme lead on proliferation finance at Project Alpha where his research focuses on the financing of WMDs proliferation issues.

Project Alpha is a leading academic research centre on a broad range of proliferation issues, including CPF. Project Alpha has previously organized a number of CPF meetings (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/alpha/research/pf) and conducted a study into the typologies of proliferation finance (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/alpha/assets/fop-13-october-2017-final.pdf), which was reflected in the last Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidance on counter-proliferation financing http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/Guidance-Countering-Proliferation-Financing.pdf).

KCL is working with a consortium of U.S. and EU nongovernmental organisations, including the DC-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) (https://www.nonproliferation.org/) and the Center for New American Security (CNAS) (https://www.cnas.org), to develop this curriculum.