John A. Cassara retired after a 26-year career in the federal government intelligence and law enforcement communities. He is considered an expert in anti–money laundering and counterterrorist finance, with particular expertise in the growing threat of alternative remittance systems and forms of trade-based money laundering and value transfer. He invented the concept of international “Trade Transparency Units,” an innovative countermeasure to entrenched forms of trade-based money laundering and value transfer. A large part of his career was spent overseas. He is one of the very few to have been both a clandestine operations officer in the U.S. intelligence community and a special agent for the Department of Treasury.

His last position was as a special agent detailee to the Department of Treasury's Office of Terrorism Finance and Financial Intelligence (TFI). His parent Treasury agency was the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Mr. Cassara was also detailed to the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Anti-Money Laundering Section to help coordinate U.S. interagency international anti-terrorist finance training and technical assistance efforts.

During his law enforcement investigative career, Mr. Cassara conducted a large number of money laundering, fraud, intellectual property rights, smuggling, and diversion of weapons and high technology investigations in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. He also served two years as an undercover arms dealer. He began his career with Treasury as a special agent assigned to the Washington field office of the U.S. Secret Service.

Since his retirement, he has lectured in the United States and around the world on a variety of transnational crime issues. He is an industry adviser for SAS, the analytics company. Mr. Cassara has authored or co-authored several articles and books. See www.JohnCassara.com.