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.

Governments have frozen some $140 million in terrorists' assets since the 9/11 attacks, yet terrorist groups have adapted to remain financially viable. To keep up, governments, too, must change their tactics.

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.

Stopping the ability of terrorists to finance their operations is a key component of the U.S. counterterrorism strategy. To accomplish this, the Administration has implemented a three-tiered approach based on (1) intelligence and domestic legal and regulatory efforts; (2) technical assistance to provide capacity-building programs for U.S. allies; and (3) global efforts to create international norms and guidelines. Effective implementation of this strategy requires the participation of, and coordination among, several elements of the U.S. Government. This report provides an agency-by-agency survey of U.S. efforts.

This report reviews allegations of Saudi involvement in terrorist financing
together with Saudi rebuttals, discusses the question of Saudi support for religious
charities and schools (madrasas) 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.

While “al-Qaeda’s current and prospective ability to raise and move funds with impunity has been significantly diminished...al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations still have ready access to financial resources, and that fact constitutes an ongoing threat to the United States.” So warns this independent Task Force report, a follow-on to the Council’s 2002 report that concludes individuals and organizations based in Saudi Arabia were the most important source of Qaeda funding.

After an initially robust attempt to curtail financing for international terrorism, the Bush administration’s current efforts are strategically inadequate to assure the sustained results needed to protect U.S. security. This is the core finding of a bipartisan commission chaired by Maurice R. Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer of AIG, and directed by two former National Security Council officials who are experts in the field, William F. Wechsler and Lee S. Wolosky.