Our Trusted Leaders

ICAIE provides bespoke policy advice, guidance, intelligence, and solutions to our Members and Partners. We are highly-respected former senior US government officials with significant experience across national security, diplomacy, military, intelligence and law enforcement/judicial actions, policy decision-making, and operations on today’s global threats.

David M. Luna, Executive Director

David is the Founder and Executive Director of the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies. As a former diplomat and national security official, David is a globally-recognized strategic thought leader.He’s considered a leading voice internationally on transnational threats, international affairs, geopolitical risks, illicit trade, and global illicit economies (“dark side of globalization”) that fuel greater insecurity and instability around the world. In 2017, after 22 years of public service in the U.S. Government, David established Luna Global Networks & Convergence Strategies LLC. David is also the Co-Founder of Illicit Shadows LLC.

David held numerous senior positions with the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). It includes directorships for national security, transnational crime and illicit networks, anti‑corruption and good governance, and an advisor to the Secretary’s Coordinator for the Rule of Law.David also served as an Assistant Counsel to the President. He worked at the Office of the Counsel to the President in The White House. He also worked in other positions with the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Senate.

David is currently the Chair of the Business at OECD Anti‑Illicit Trade Expert Group (AITEG) and Chair of the Anti‑Illicit Trade Committee (AITC) of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB). He is a member of the Business Twenty (B20/G20) Integrity & Compliance Task Force and previously served as the President of the OECD Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade.David is also a Vice Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Illicit Trade and Organized Crime and Chair of the APEC Anti‑Corruption and Transparency (ACT) Working Group. He has worked in other leadership positions in the G7 and diplomatic fora and public‑private partnerships on anti‑crime and global security. David is also a Senior Fellow for National Security and co‑Director of the Anti‑Illicit Trade Institute at the Terrorism, Transnational Crime, and Corruption Center (TraCCC), Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University; and Chair of the Peace and Security Committee, United Nations Association-NCA.

David is a graduate (M.S.S.) of the U.S. Army War College, and received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, J.D. from The Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America, and awarded numerous certificates from the Harvard Business School (HBS).

Joshua Potter, Deputy Executive Director

Joshua Potter is the Deputy Executive Director and Vice‑President of Forward Engagement & Partnerships at the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE).Recently retired from active-duty service with over 27 years of servant‑leader experience, culminating as a Colonel at U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).

Joshua Potter has been a driving force in national security and special investigations.He has led organizations in Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and PATRIOT missile systems through security & intelligence activities and reconnaissance operations in more than 47 countries – including over ten combat and operational deployments.He has developed multicultural communities across global engagements while orchestrating broad campaigns with local, state, federal, and international partners.

As a distinguished veteran, Josh has earned 5 Bronze Star Medals and a Purple Heart (he refers to as the “enemy marksmanship badge”) for meritorious actions in combat zones, among other dozens of other decorations and awards.He established and led the first-ever Business Intelligence unit within the Department of Defense, responsible as the lead component for Counter Threat Finance (CTF).Josh has been simultaneously coordinating with Counter Narcoterrorism (CNT) and Counter Transnational Organized Crime (CTOC) efforts with 28 interagency organizations.

The author of three books and armed with two Master’s degrees, a mild caffeine addiction, and a vorpal sense of humor, Josh has served as an executive‑level director in multiple disciplines and programs.It includes strategic planning, community development, full‑spectrum security, intelligence, counter‑terrorism, counter‑threat finance, anti‑money laundering, and special operations.

John Cassara, Senior Advisor

John 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 terrorist financing, with  particular expertise in the areas of money laundering in the Middle East and  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 terrorist financing. 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), the U.S. Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). He worked at FinCEN from 1996-2002. From 2002-2004, Mr. Cassara was 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 for a variety of federal   agencies. While assigned to the Office of the Customs Attaché in Rome, Italy, he directed  the first truly international money laundering task force, called  Operation Primo Passo, (“First Step”). The innovative operation combated Italian/American organized crime by examining the movement of money between the two countries and represented an early use of financial intelligence to proactively initiate investigations. During his customs career, 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 transnational crime issues. He has consulted for government and industry.  He has testified six times before Congressional committees on matters dealing with money laundering, threat finance, and transnational crime.  Mr. Cassara is on the Board of Directors of Global Financial Integrity and the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE).   Mr.. Cassara has authored or co-authored several articles and books, including Hide and Seek, Intelligence, Law Enforcement and the Stalled War on Terrorist Finance (2006 Potomac Books) and On the Trail of Terror Finance – What Intelligence and Law Enforcement Officers Need to Know (2010 Red Cell IG).  In 2013, his first novel was released – Demons of Gadara. Trade-Based Money Laundering: The Next Frontier in International Money Laundering (Wiley) was released followed in 2016 with Trade-Based Money Laundering: The Next Frontier in International Law Enforcement.   Money Laundering and Illicit Financial Flows: Following the Money and Value Trails was released in May, 2020. 

Chris Corpora, Senior Advisor

Christopher A. Corpora, Ph.D. currently serves as a Domain Expert with Hala Systems and Board Member with the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE).

He is an international security expert with over 30 years of experience in the field and classroom – serving in various positions, ranging from Department Director though Subject Matter Expert to Assistant Professor. He served as a senior manager and advisor with multiple U.S. government agencies and private companies, focused on conflict stabilization and countering transnational threats — global illicit trafficking, transnational organized crime, corruption and violent extremism.

Most of his work focused on and in conflict regions and on at-risk populations. His career accomplishments are highlighted by multiple awards, (Co)authorship of over a dozen peer reviewed book chapters and articles, and multiple opportunities to work with great teams in the service of promoting democracy, peace and security around the world.

He received his Ph.D. from American University’s School of International Service and is a proud alumni of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Junior Scholars Seminar.

Dr. Mahmut Cengiz, Senior Advisor

Dr. Mahmut Cengiz is a Senior Advisor at the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE) and Professor of the Practice in Criminal Justice at the University of Kansas, where he leads the Global Crime concentration. His research and professional expertise focus on transnational organized crime, illicit economies and trade, terrorism, violent extremism, geopolitical risk, intelligence analysis, and the convergence of criminal and terrorist networks.

Dr. Cengiz previously served at George Mason University, where he was an Associate Professor and held research and teaching positions for more than a decade. From 2018 to 2025, he co-directed research and analysis for the U.S. Department of State-funded Global Terrorism Trends and Analysis Center (GTTAC). In this role, he developed and implemented data-collection methodologies covering more than 50 countries and contributed to methodologies for tracking terrorist organizations, designated cartels, and gangs in Latin America. He oversaw the analysis of more than 64,000 terrorist incidents worldwide and managed a large multidisciplinary team of researchers and analysts.

Before entering academia, Dr. Cengiz had an extensive career in law enforcement and security. He served with the Turkish National Police from 1996 to 2015, including senior assignments in organized crime, mafia-type criminal organizations, counter-narcotics, undercover operations, and witness protection. His professional experience included investigations and analysis involving drug trafficking, human trafficking, nuclear smuggling, antiquities trafficking, arms smuggling, financial crime, illicit trade, and terrorism-linked criminal networks.

Dr. Cengiz has authored or co-authored nine books and numerous scholarly articles, policy studies, and security assessments. His books include Typologies of Terrorist Organizations (2025), Murder by Mail (2024), The Illicit Economy in Turkey (2019), and the forthcoming Military Coups and Fragile Democracies (Bloomsbury, 2027). His research increasingly examines the intersection of organized crime, terrorism, illicit markets, emerging technologies, and evolving global security threats.

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Cengiz serves as Managing Editor for Counterterrorism at Homeland Security Today and Chair of its Counterterrorism Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) Network of Experts and a Fellow at Small Wars Journal–El Centro. Through his academic, law-enforcement, research, and policy experience, he brings an interdisciplinary and practitioner-oriented perspective to understanding illicit economies, transnational criminal networks, terrorism, and their implications for national and international security.

Dr. Cengiz holds two master’s degrees and two doctoral degrees. He earned a master’s degree from American University’s School of International Service and holds Ph.D. degrees in Sociology from Ankara University and in Public Policy from George Mason University.

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