Jessica Abell

Next Generation National Security Fellow, 2019

Managing Director, Sayari

  • Press: comms@cnas.org

Jessica Abell is Managing Director at Sayari, a DC-based technology company that develops open source data and financial intelligence products. Before Sayari, she investigated complex illicit financial networks for US government clients, with a focus on developing innovative methods to exploit unclassified data. She has worked as a consultant on ISIL counter threat finance strategy for the US State Department and as a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses. She has briefed her work to senior leadership at home and abroad, including in the US intelligence community; combatant commands; Departments of Defense, Treasury, and State; and the National Security Council.

Jessica holds an MA in International Policy Studies and a BA in History, both from Stanford University, and is proficient in Farsi. She and her husband currently live in northern Virginia.