| 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
| by Jason M. Blazakis
It has now been more than two years since Hamas’s deadly attack in Israel. As someone who worked for more than a decade in the United States Government (USG) as head of the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau’s Office of Counterterrorism Finance and Designations CT/CTFD, I wanted to reflect on the financial methods, with a specific examination of charities1, that Hamas has used to finance itself.
From Monterey to the global stage, Middlebury Institute students are putting their skills to work this spring. Through applied research and practicum courses, our students are collaborating with organizations making a tangible difference worldwide while finishing their degrees.
