Jason Blazakis

Jason Blazakis is a Senior Research Fellow at The Soufan Center. He is a terrorism expert who devises strategies to prevent terrorists from gaining access to money and publicity. He presently works as Professor of Practice and Director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. From 2008-2018, he served as the Director of the Counterterrorism Terrorism Finance and Designations Office, Bureau of Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of State. In his former role, Jason was responsible for directing efforts to designate countries, organizations, and individuals as terrorists, also known as State Sponsors of Terrorism, Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Jason previously held positions in the Department of State’s Political-Military Affairs, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Intelligence and Research Bureaus, and at U.S. Embassy Kabul.

Prior to working at the Department of State, Jason served as a domestic intelligence analyst at the Congressional Research Service. In addition, he was the national security adviser to a United States Congressional Representative. Jason is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland. He is also the President of Riptide Threat Mitigation Group, Inc., a geopolitical risk consultancy.