| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Home Front: WoT | |
| U.S. Efforts against Terrorism Financing: A View from the Private Sector | |
| 2007-06-27 | |
On June 15, 2007, Robert Werner addressed The Washington Institute's Policy Forum seminar series. Managing director of Merrill Lynch's Monetary and Financial Control Group since December 2006, he previously served as director of the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and, before that, as director of the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The following is a rapporteur's summary of his remarks Now more than ever, the private sector needs to help prevent terrorism financing. Emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia present law enforcement authorities and the private sector with new challenges and possibilities in the areas of terrorism financing and money laundering. For those companies that value their reputations and wish to uphold the moral and ethical imperative to prevent the funding of illicit activity, increased cooperation with U.S. government efforts is vital. Background Although terrorism financing and money laundering are often categorized together, the former is in fact much more difficult to detect. As opposed to laundering -- the process of layering and integrating funds into the financial system -- terrorism financing often involves clean money being used for illicit purposes. In addition, terror financiers transfer funds through increasingly sophisticated means. Beyond using traditional banks and wire transfers, they are now investing in securities and moving money through related transactions. There is a misconception that terrorists do not require large sums of money to operate. Although the cost of individual attacks is relatively low, the cost to maintain terrorist infrastructure is comparatively high. The focus of efforts to counter terrorism financing should not be preventing individual attacks, but breaking the networks that facilitate them. Even this worthwhile effort can have unintended consequences, however. The offshoots of large, sophisticated terrorist networks remain highly dangerous even when they lack formal connections to said networks. | |
| Posted by:lotp |