Yaya J. Fanusie

Director of Analysis for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance (CSIF)

Yaya Jata Fanusie is the director of analysis for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance. He focuses on fintech and its implications for national security and illicit finance. Fanusie also is an adviser to Archer, a nonprofit tech start-up on the University of California, Berkeley campus. He spent seven years as both an economic and counterterrorism analyst in the CIA, where he regularly briefed White House-level policymakers, U.S. military personnel, and federal law enforcement. In 2008, while assigned to the National Counterterrorism Center, he briefed then-President George W. Bush on terrorism threats. Fanusie has testified before Congress on terrorist financing issues and has led public-private sector roundtables on the topic of digital currencies and national security. He has published articles in Forbes, The Cipher Brief, The Hill, CNBC.com, The National Interest, and Vox and has been quoted for articles on cryptocurrencies in Bloomberg News and the Washington Times, and has appeared as an expert guest on CNN, Fox News, and Alhurra television. He has an M.A. in international affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.