Stuart Levey and Christy Clark argue that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the world's premier standard-setting body for combating terrorist financing and money laundering, and it should develop and enforce standards for sanctions implementation.

Report

Financial pressures have weakened al-Qaeda's tactical abilities, but analysts say affiliated networks are finding new ways to raise and spend money, complicating efforts to squeeze a savvy foe.

David S. Cohen speaks on the Treasury Department's efforts to combat terrorist financing.

David Cohen, assistant secretary of treasury for terrorist financing, outlines the U.S. government's greatest challenges and priorities in disrupting terrorist financing, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Listen to David Cohen, assistant secretary of treasury for terrorist financing, outline the U.S. government's greatest challenges and priorities in disrupting terrorist financing, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Watch David Cohen, assistant secretary of treasury for terrorist financing, outline the U.S. government's greatest challenges and priorities in disrupting terrorist financing, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Matthew Levitt examines Hezbollah's increased role in illicit drug trafficking in Latin America in this article by Middle East Strategy at Harvard, a project of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies.

Recent unrest in Lebanon spotlights Hezbollah's domestic political aspirations and growing regional influence.

Report

This CRS report for Congress reviews allegations of Saudi involvement in terrorist financing together with Saudi rebuttals, discusses the question of Saudi support for Palestinian organizations and religious charities and schools abroad, discusses recent steps taken by Saudi Arabia to counter terrorist financing (many in conjunction with the United States), and suggests some implications of recent Saudi actions for the war on terrorism.

The SEC’s new terrorism blacklist provokes anger from some major global companies and raises questions about the value of terror lists more generally.

This paper from Matthew Levitt, director of the Stein program on terrorism, intelligence and policy at the Washington Institute describes extensive US and British actions actions designed to block channels of financial support used by international terrorists.

In this policy paper, Michael Jacobson, a senior fellow in The Washington Institute's Stein Program on Terrorism, Intelligence, and Policy, says that despite new British initiatives to combat terrorist financing following the July 2005 terrorist subway and bus attacks in London and the disrupted terrorist plot to blow up U.S.-bound planes flying from Heathrow airport in August 2006, the efforts of the European Union (EU) to do the same lack consistency and effect. He says bureaucratic obstacles limit European efforts to designate terrorist entities and freeze their assets.

Matthew Levitt, an expert on terrorism financing, applauds efforts by U.S. officials to "think outside the box" and apply financial pressure against Iranian banks.

Notes of remarks by Matthew Levitt at a recent Washington Institute policy forum on combating terrorism financing in which he said that in addition to publicly reported interventions to disrupt the financing of terrorist activities, the US government and its allies are also conducting equally productive anti-terror activities through diplomacy, law enforcement, covert activity, and intelligence collection. 

Former Commerce Department official Sue E. Eckert says terrorist financial networks have adapted, and Washington must rethink its approach if it is to keep money out of terrorists' hands.

As terrorist financial networks adapt, the United States must constantly reevaluate its own approach to targeting them.

Three experts discuss the sources of terrorist funds, what efforts are underway to track and freeze terrorist assets, and how effectively terrorist organizations are using the global financial system to support their activities.

A lower-profile but still crucial aspect of global anti-terror efforts involves unraveling the networks that have funded attacks from New York to Bali. Terrorists have proven adept at maintaining financial links intact.