Jason Blazakis

Jason Blazakis is a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) where he focuses on threat financing, sanctions, intelligence, and violent extremism related research. Jason worked in the United States government for nearly 20 years. From 2008-2018, he served as the Director of the Counterterrorism Finance and Designations Office, Bureau of Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of State. At the State Department, Jason also worked in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Political-Military Bureau, U.S. Embassy Kabul, and Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He worked as a domestic intelligence analyst at the Congressional Research Service (CRS), authoring CRS’s first report on the domestic application of drones. He has also worked at the Department of Commerce’s Technology Administration and was a Legislative Assistant focusing on national security issues for a member of Congress in the 1990s. Jason has published two books, the Mediterranean Connection with Lynne Rienner Publishers (2024) and Terror Disrupted, published in 2026 by Cambridge University Press.

Jason consults regularly with law enforcement, financial intelligence units, and the private sector on a broad range of threat intelligence issues. Jason has been sanctioned by the Russian Federation for his work related to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and UK Parliament on a range of issues, to include the rise of Mexican drug cartels and Russia’s Wagner Group. He holds degrees from the University of Mississippi, Columbia University, and Johns Hopkins University