Follow the money

One aspect of the war against terrorism is the concerted effort to stop the financing that is the life blood for the terrorists. It is not as sexy as kinetic warfare, but money fuels these terrorist movements and organizations, and clamping down on the flow of money to the terrorists is vital.

In this progress report on the GWOT from last fall, the White House said this about efforts to eradicate terrorist financing.

The United States continues to work with friends and allies to disrupt the financing of terrorism by identifying and blocking the sources of funding, freezing the assets of terrorists and those who support them, denying terrorists access to the international financial system, protecting legitimate charities from being abused by terrorists, and preventing the movement of assets through alternative financial networks.

* On September 23, 2001, President Bush signed Executive Order 13224, freezing the U.S.- based assets of individuals and organizations involved with terrorism, and authorizing the Secretaries of State and Treasury to identify, designate, and freeze the U.S-based assets of terrorists and their supporters.

* Since September 11, 2001, 209 of the 212 countries and jurisdictions in the world have expressed their support for the financial war on terror; 173 countries have issued orders to freeze the assets of terrorists; terror networks have lost access to nearly $200 million, which have been frozen or seized in more than 1,400 terrorist-related accounts around the world; of that total, over $73 million has been seized or frozen due to the efforts of the United States. Over 100 countries have introduced new terrorist-related legislation, and 84 countries have established Financial Intelligence Units.

* U.S. authorities have issued blocking orders on the assets of more than 300 terrorist organizations and terrorist supporters, effectively denying them access to the U.S. financial system. The arrests of key financial facilitators and fundraisers have resulted in a significant decline in monetary contributions to terrorist organizations.

* The United States welcomes the September 6, 2003, political decision of European Union Foreign Ministers to designate the leadership and institutions of HAMAS as a terrorist organization and to freeze their financial assets.

* Since September 28, 2001, all 191 UN Member States have submitted first-round reports to the United Nations Security Council Counterterrorism Committee on actions they have taken to suppress international terrorism, including blocking terrorist finances, as required under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373.

* On November 7, 2002, the Treasury Department issued voluntary best practices guidelines for all U.S.-based charities to address concerns that charitable distribution of funds abroad might reach terrorist-related entities and thereby trigger a blocking action on the part of the Treasury Department.

* The FBI has aggressively pursued groups, individuals, and networks that provide financing for terrorism worldwide. The FBI uncovered facts showing that the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF) and Global Relief Foundation (GRF), Islamic charities holding themselves out to be conduits for directing aid to the poor and needy of the Islamic world, were actually conduits for funding Islamic fighters engaged in battle throughout the world, including Chechnya. BIF and GRF have been designated as global terrorist entities, and their international organizations have been successfully disrupted and dismantled.

I note with interest that other countries are also conducting their own efforts. No doubt there have been discussions with the US on these matters, as the US seeks to enroll as many allies as possible in this effort. It does little good to tighten laws in one area, if other countries remain a veritable spigot of terrorist financing. Here are just some of those efforts from the past few months.

Bangladesh

A new law having provisions for the prevention of 'terrorist financing' will soon replace the existing Anti-Money Laundering Act 2002.

The final draft of the law titled, "Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act 2005", which is expected to be placed before the Cabinet tomorrow (Monday) for its approval, seeks to empower the Bangladesh Bank to suspend or stop operation of any account, for 30 days, involved in suspicious transactions without any prior notice.

The existing money laundering law does not have sufficient provisions for preventing the financing of terrorist activities, a 10-member central bank committee formed in May last year to review the existing money laundering prevention said.

Latin America

Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina need to address security concerns around their common border, and the United States next week will urge lawmakers there to advance legislation to combat terrorist financing and money laundering, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

Patrick O'Brien, assistant U.S. Treasury secretary for terrorist financing, said recent elections in Latin America have produced legislatures that may be more likely to pass anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws.

Tri-Border area of Latin America

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have teamed up with law-enforcement authorities in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay to combat money laundering and other financial crimes in a remote and lawless region known as the "Tri-Border Area."

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers, who heads ICE, said multigovernment "trade transparency units" will investigate and prosecute crimes including money laundering, terrorist financing, contraband smuggling and tax evasion.

The United States has determined that the Tri-Border Area is a source of fundraising for radical Islamic groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas and al Qaeda, and the U.S. government has worked cooperatively with governments in the region to disrupt fundraising activity.

Focusing on other countries such as Saudi Arabia

The House has approved Rep. Sue Kelly's proposal to help the government crack down on foreign countries that fail to stop terrorist financing networks.

The Katonah Republican's legislation, passed as part of a larger financial services regulatory bill, would require the Treasury Department to report annually on which countries are not enforcing laws against terrorist financing and money laundering.
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Kelly, chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee, was mostly concerned about Saudi Arabia when she introduced her bill last year. Like others, she believed that the Saudi government had not done enough to crack down on some Islamic charities thought to be involved in financing al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

Australia

The Government has passed laws making it a criminal offence to hold assets that are owned or controlled by terrorist organisations or individuals, or to make assets available to them, punishable by up to five years imprisonment. Measures to combat terrorist financing were taken to ensure that terrorists will not be able to escape similar measures being taken in countries where they were likely to have accounts. In this way, an international dragnet has been established, making it increasingly difficult for terrorists to generate, transfer or conceal funds.