Chapter 5.3: Shadow World Investigations: Tracking Corruption in the Arms Trade

Shrouded in national security-imposed secrecy and uniquely underregulated, the shadow world of the global arms trade is a hotbed of corruption and other illicit practices. Unfortunately, these same features make it incredibly difficult for investigators – whether they be journalists, law enforcement professionals or non-governmental researchers – to gather the necessary information to uncover these practices and hold perpetrators to account. This chapter presents Shadow World Investigations and its work uncovering corruption in the arms trade. It describes open source resources useful in researching potential corruption, illustrates their use through real-world examples, and explores how and when closed sources can contribute to open source research.