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A National Issue with Transnational Reach: How Securing Research Is Like Money Laundering
Book chapter

A National Issue with Transnational Reach: How Securing Research Is Like Money Laundering

Brendan Walker-Munro, Jamie Ferrill and Milind Tiwari
The Routledge International Handbook of Research Security, pp.640-658
Routledge International Handbooks, Routledge, 1st
2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003583431-38

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Abstract

At first glance, the notion of protecting university research from misuse or abuse by foreign actors (“research security”) bears little resemblance to countering money laundering. Yet a deeper analysis of these disciplines yields some surprising similarities: they both involve protection of intangible objects that possess tangible financial benefit, they both seek to shield against a wide spectrum of transnational security threats, and they both involve the imposition of regulatory restrictions on institutions with cultural values that can run counter to those restrictions. For those reasons – and others which we will explore further below – this chapter examines the utility of the United Nations considering enacting a global research security policy (like the FATF’s 40 Recommendations) for the benefit of Member States. By drawing on the lessons from the establishment of international standards of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF), this chapter suggests that there are some significant advantages to enacting an international policy instrument to protect higher education research institutions.

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