(TLP:CLEAR) CTC Sentinel – April 2025: Using Artificial Intelligence to Assess Security Risks and Funding Iran’s Terror Network

Summary: The Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point published its “Sentinel” magazine for April 2025. This latest issue discusses using artificial intelligence (AI) to assess and forecast security threats, as well as how some of Iran’s terrorist proxies fund their illicit activities.

Analyst Note: The issue’s monthly interview is with Charlie Winter, the co-founder and chief research officer of ExTrac AI, an AI-assisted intelligence platform that identifies, maps, and forecasts geopolitical risk, including in the counterterrorism space. He states: “Our [AI platform] pivots around accessing, ingesting, and processing high-relevance publicly available information and data from hard-to-reach parts of the internet that reflects the online and offline activities and psychological operations of various non-state and state threat actors.”

The issue’s feature article explores the nexus between Iraq’s oil sector and Iran’s terrorist proxy network. The author writes that, using their influence over the Iraqi government, “Iran-backed terrorist groups and militias are developing significant new strands of threat financing using Iraq’s oil sector, which combine to provide billions of dollars of illicit value each year. Iraq is thus emerging as Iran’s best bet for neutering the Trump administration’s renewed maximum pressure campaign.”

Original Source: https://ctc.westpoint.edu/april-2025/  

Additional Reading:

• What are the Risks and Benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Cybersecurity?
• How Iran evades sanctions and finances terrorist organizations like Hamas

Related WaterISAC PIRs: 1 & 4