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Terrorism
Memo to the Department of Homeland Security: There are federal statutes on the books that can help address the way that terrorists finance their draconian operations. This document delves into the specifics of how financing can be cut off or at least addressed to some extent, enough to bottle up terrorist movements which of course require money.
What is terrorist financing?
Jeff Breinholt coordinated the Department of Justice Terrorist Financing Task Force in 2003, and he published an article explaining what the law is in the United States vis-a-vis terrorist financing. "Terrorist financing enforcement has emerged as a powerful means of disrupting…" those terrorist supporters in the U.S., and also "…those who use our financial system and generosity against us" (Breinholt, 2003, p. 1).
Breinholt explains that terrorist financing entails "…the act of knowingly providing something of value to persons and groups engaged in terrorist activity," this crime has actually been in the books since 1994 (Breinholt, 7). Money laundering can be part of the way that terrorists finance their evil deeds, and it doesn't really matter whether the funds that are transmitted into the hands of terrorists are "dirty" (have been laundered) or not, Breinholt writes. It doesn't matter whether they come from a "legal" or "illegal" source, they are subject to interception by U.S. authorities, Breinholt continues. In fact, the author mentions, "frequently" funds come into the hands of terrorists through apparently legal sources; typically, apparently legitimate dollars are donated to charities in the United States that "…are actually fronts for terrorist organizations" (Breinholt, 7).
Title 18 of the U.S.C....
§1956(a)(2)(A) criminalizes the act of "…transmitting funds internationally with the intent to promote some specified unlawful activity," Breinholt explains on page 8. In order to catch money before it arrives in the hands of terrorists -- or to retrieve money from a bogus charity fronting for terrorists -- several initiatives have been launched. Following 9/11, the FBI has had an ongoing financial analysis program which tracks the financial movements of potential and known terrorist groups. The statutes that pertain to terrorist financing (as of 2006) include: 18 U.S. Code § 956; 18 U.S. Code § 2339A; 18 U.S. Code § 2339B; and 50 U.S. Code § § 1701, 1702 (Breinholt, 8). Relating to 18 U.S. Code § 2339B, "Providing material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations," the statute provides punishment up "not more than 15 years" in prison (and/or a fine). That is the punishment for knowingly providing "material support or resources" to a known terrorist group.
Example of federal statute in action
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) published an article (Order Code RS22469) that outlines the authority of the U.S. Treasury to access information pertaining to international financial transactions that may involve terrorist activity. The reason for the CRS memo is because newspapers (Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times) had published articles that detail efforts by the Department of the Treasury to trace banking movements internationally vis-a-vis transfers of funds to and from terrorist organizations (Elsea, et al., 2006). This published information was considered to be "unauthorized disclosure of classified information," and hence the House of…
Works Cited
Breinholt, Jeff. (2003). Terrorist Financing. United States Attorney's Bulletin. 51(4).
Retrieved November 13, 2012, from U.S. Department of Justice.
Elsea, Jennifer K. And Murphy, Maureen M. (2006). Treasury's Terrorist Finance Program's
Access to Information Held by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial
Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22469.pdf.
from http://www.fincen.gov.
Homeland Security. (2011). Law Enforcement Partnerships. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.dhs.gov.
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