Ep 11 - Mr. Simon Deignan, Programme Management Officer in the UN Countering Terrorist Travel Progamme

In the eleventh episode of the podcast Angelisa Corbo talked to Mr. Simon Deignan, Programme Management Officer in the UN Countering Terrorist Travel Progamme, whose mission is to support States in identifying and detecting foreign terrorist fighters and serious criminals through the collection and use of passenger data. Before joining the UN, Mr. Deignan spent 9 years with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as part of the both the Irish and Swiss Chairmanships and within the Transnational Threats Department, where he led the Travel Document Security Programme and managed a team responsible for helping States to establish Advanced Passenger information (API) and the Passenger Name Record (PNR) systems. Prior to his involvement with the OSCE, Simon worked in international business management consultancy.

In this interview Mr. Deignan discusses the work of the UN Countering Terrorist Travel Progamme and how it has been affected by the COVID pandemic. Furthermore, he talks about the difference between API and PNR as well as the change in human mobility due to the pandemic and its impact on the travel of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs).