
Dr Jonathan Brewer
Visiting Professor
Biography
Dr Jonathan Brewer has been a Visiting Professor since 2010.
He is former Acting Coordinator of the UN Panel of Experts on Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Coordinator of the UN 1540 Group of Experts and financial expert of the UN Panel on Iran.
As a member of HM Diplomatic Service (1983–2010) he served in British Embassies in Luanda, Mexico City and Moscow, as Secretary to the Joint Intelligence Committee (2003–2004) and as Head of Counter-Proliferation (2005–2010).
He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and holds a PhD from Cornell University, New York, USA on deep crustal reflection profiling (1981) and a BA in Geology from the University of Oxford (1977).
He was appointed OBE in the New Year Honours List 2025.
Research
Based in New York, Dr Brewer conducts research into:
- UN Security Council and unilateral sanctions requirements, their implementation and circumvention.
- Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) proliferation programmes.
- Financing of WMD proliferation, including Financial Action Task Force (FATF) requirements.
Publications
- Resolution 1540 (2004) and proliferation finance, COMPASS, Issue 2, September 2024, pp 102–107 (an analysis of 1540 financial prohibitions and controls).
- Financial Institutions and the Threat of Proliferation Finance, Financial Institutions Sanctions Compliance, July – August 2021, pp 45–50 (a guide for financial institutions to identifying and countering proliferation finance).
- The Financing of WMD Proliferation - Conducting risk Assessments, 30 October 2018, Center for New American Security, Washington DC (a guide to conducting proliferation finance risk assessments – basic principles for jurisdictions and financial institutions).
- The Financing of Nuclear and other Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation, 24 January 2018, Center for New American Security, Washington DC (a Primer).
- Final Report: Study of Typologies of Financing of WMD Proliferation, 13 October 2017, Project Alpha, King's College London (illustrative case studies provided by governments and financial institutions, and possible risk indicators).
- UN Financial Sanctions on Iran: An Example of How Asset Freeze Exemptions Worked in Practice, 29 September 2016, RUSI Journal (data provided by a UN Member State demonstrate that asset freeze exemptions worked in practice and as intended).
News
Final report: typologies of proliferation finance
Disrupting the financing of proliferation (FoP) is potentially a key tool to combat state-sponsored WMD programs. However, detecting FoP is difficult. The...

Trade finance and proliferation finance - mitigating the risks
Disrupting the financing of proliferation (FoP) is potentially a key tool to combat state-sponsored WMD programs. However, detecting FoP is difficult. The...

News
Final report: typologies of proliferation finance
Disrupting the financing of proliferation (FoP) is potentially a key tool to combat state-sponsored WMD programs. However, detecting FoP is difficult. The...

Trade finance and proliferation finance - mitigating the risks
Disrupting the financing of proliferation (FoP) is potentially a key tool to combat state-sponsored WMD programs. However, detecting FoP is difficult. The...
