| by Mikayla Parson
Three Middlebury Institute students have been named Fulbright finalists for the 2025–26 award cycle, earning opportunities to conduct research and teach abroad in Indonesia, Romania, and Panama. Their projects span climate resilience, language education, and information integrity, reflecting the global impact of MIIS students and alumni through international exchange and cross-cultural engagement.
| by Ekaterina Grishakova and Satyajit Lall
Ghost Markets of the Darknet asks a deceptively simple question: If global e-commerce can move goods across continents in days, can a militant non-state actor in West Africa do the same with an RPG? Grishakova and Lall test the question against a hypothetical JNIM splinter faction, working through the discovery, payment, and delivery problems in turn. Their answer reframes the dark web as a force multiplier rather than a replacement for offline arms trafficking.”
– Jason Blazakis, CTEC Executive Director
The International Environmental Policy (IEP) program, renamed to the Environmental Policy & Management (EPM) program had an Alumni Reunion Weekend, Friday to Sunday, April 10-12, 2026. It was the 30th anniversary of this impactful master’s degree program. It was an uplifting and inspiring weekend.
| by Mikayla Parson
The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is a fully funded, 8–10 week summer study abroad initiative for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. It offers intensive language instruction and cultural immersion in 13+ critical languages essential for U.S. national security and economic prosperity.
| by Mikayla Parson
Every year one Middlebury Institute graduate students is selected for a 10k Projects for Peace Award for work completed over the summer with a local partner.
| by Satyajit Lall
In this research paper, CTEC Graduate Research Assistant Satyajit Lall traces nearly four decades of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba’s financial evolution—from its Saudi-backed origins during the Afghan jihad through the meticulously funded 2008 Mumbai attacks to the group’s continued operations culminating in the 2025 Pahalgam massacre—demonstrating that LeT’s resilience as one of South Asia’s most dangerous terrorist organizations is inseparable from the sophistication of its financial architecture. Drawing on an extensive body of scholarship, congressional testimony, and open-source intelligence, Lall maps the hybrid funding model of charitable fronts, diaspora remittances, hawala networks, and Pakistani state patronage that has allowed LeT to adapt to each successive wave of international pressure, from post-9/11 sanctions to FATF scrutiny, without ever suffering meaningful structural disruption to its financing. The paper makes a compelling case that the international community’s failure to confront the state-level enablers shielding LeT’s financial network has rendered existing designations and sanctions largely symbolic, and that only coordinated multilateral action targeting both the group’s front organizations and their institutional protectors can meaningfully degrade this persistent threat.
– Jason Blazakis, CTEC Executive Director
From Beijing to Tokyo, Middlebury researchers analyze the security, trade, and cultural historical tensions shaping the future of East Asian relations.
| by Amir Tadros
The merged challenge of terrorist financing and reputational laundering is difficult terrain for governments and the private sector to navigate. Amir Tadros’s (CTEC Graduate Researcher) paper confronts that gap head-on, arguing that Hamas’s wartime narrative production functions not as atmospheric context but as core raise-phase infrastructure within the terrorist financing lifecycle. It is an original and overdue contribution, and Tadros traces how a deliberately engineered information environment activates donor networks, legitimizes sham charities, and normalizes aid diversion—all before a single dollar enters the formal financial system where existing tools can reach it.
Hamas has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. Department of State since 1997. Yet, efforts to truly counter the group’s financing only began in a robust way after its deadly October 7, 2023 attack. Much work remains in countering Hamas’s manipulation, and Tadros’s paper provides a partial roadmap to do so.
Jason Blazakis - CTEC Executive Director
