Counter Threat Finance (CTF)
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Over the years there have been thousands of
terrorist organizations. All of them have required funds from which to
operate, pay the rank and files, buy equipment and weapons, arrange
transportation, and provide for safehouses and training areas.
With the advance of technology it has become both
easier and harder for security organizations to track the funding
activities of terrorist and insurgent groups. The tracking of terrorist
and insurgent organization financing is a growth industry around the
world. Within goverment circles the effort to stem movement of funds to
terrorist organizations is sometimes referred to as "Counter Threat
Financing" or CTF. In fact, the Joint Special Operations University
(JSOU), offers a one-week long course to military and government members
entitled "Counter Threat Finance Course". 1.
There are many different types of terrorist and
insurgent groups. Some are state-sponsored, some operate within just one
country, some are international organizations, and many are loosely
connected with other terrorist organizations. A lot of money travels
across international borders in support of these terrorist organizations.
Within the Middle East and other Muslim countries the attempts of security
organizations to track the movement of money that finance terrorist
operations are sometimes limited by the huge network of money brokers
known as Hawala. See the section on Hawala on this web page below.
Agencies and Organizations that Counter Threat Financing
National Guard Counterdrug Program. The National Guard is taking part in the Department of Defense (DoD) Counter Threat Finance program. The National Guard will workin conjunction with six law
enforcement agency partners (DEA, FBI, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Customs, and the IRS). They will be tasked with the duties of denying, disrupting, destroying or defeating finance systems and neetworks
that negatively impact U.S. interests. 2.
Afghan Threat Finance Cell. This multi-agency
intelligence organization located in Afghanistan was created in 2008. The
lead agency in the organizaton was the Drug Enforcement Agency.
3.
Bibliographies on Terrorist Financing
MERLIN, MiPAL: Terrorism - Terrorist
Financing, Military Education Research Library Network, National
Defense University (NDU).
http://ndu.libguides.com/content.php?pid=546452&sid=4496933
Government Documents and References
on
Terrorist and Threat Financing
Department of Treasury, Fact Sheet: Combating
the Financing of Terrorism, Disrupting Terrorism at its Core,
September 8, 2011.
www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1291.aspx
DoD, DoD Counter Threat Finance (CTF) Policy,
DoD Directive Number 5205.14, August 19, 2010. Establishes DoD policy
and assigns DoD responsibilities for countering financing used to engage
in terrorism., illicit trafficking networks, and related activities that
support an adversary's ability to negatively affect U.S. interests.
www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/520514p.pdf
IMF, The IMF and the Fight Against Money
Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, International Monetary
Fund, March 27, 2015.
www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/aml.htm
UN Security Council, Protecting Non-Profit
Organizations from Terrorist Financiers, United Nations, March 15,
2013.
www.un.org/en/sc/ctc/news/2013-03-15_npos.html
Websites with Information About
Terrorist Organization Financing
Terrorism Financing. by Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_financing
Threat Finanicing and Financial Intelligence.
American Security Project.
www.americansecurityproject.org/asymmetric-operations/threat-finance-and-financial-intelligence/
Threat Finance Countermeasures. U.S. Department of
State.
www.state.gov/e/eb/tfs/tfc/
Terrorism Finance. U.S. Department of State.
www.state.gov/e/eb/tfs/tfc/finance/
Terrorism Financing. RAND Corporation.
www.rand.org/topics/terrorism-financing.html
Counter Threat Finance. War on the Rocks Blog.
http://warontherocks.com/tag/counter-threat-finance/
Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
www.fatf-gafi.org
Threat Financing. Afghan War News Blog.
http://afghanwarnews.blogspot.com/search/label/threat-financing
Terrorist Financing. MERLIN at National Defense
University.
http://ndu.libguides.com/content.php?pid=546452&sid=4496933
Associations and Professional
Organizations
Association of Certified Financial Crime
Specialists
www.acfcs.org
Training and Educational Opportunities
Counter Threat Finance Course. Joint Special
Operations University
Course Information
Threat Financing & Antimoney Laundering. Columbia
University
www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/subj/INAF/U6848-20151-001/
Firms Offering Counter Threat Finance
Services
Innovative Analytics & Training
www.innovative-analytics.com
Blogs about Financial Crime
The Financial Crime Blog. Middlebury
Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
http://sites.miis.edu/miisfinancialcrime/
Hawala
Hawala. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala
El-Qorchi, Mohammed, "The Hawala System",
Finance and Development, December 2002, Volume 39, Number 4. The
author was a Senior Economist, Monetary and Exchange Affairs Department,
International Monetary Fund (IMF). The paper discusses how the informal
funds transfer system works and whether it should be regulated. Posted on
the Global Development Research Center (GDRC).
www.gdrc.org/icm/hawala.html
Videos & Documentaries on Terrorist Financing
June 9, 2016. Stopping the Money Flow: The War
on Terror Finance, Joint Hearing with the House Committee on Foreign
Affairs and House Armed Services Committee.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvtXkDWxjrQ
Papers and Publications about Financing
of Terrorism (listed in chronological order)
2017
Foundation for Defense of Democracy (FDD),
Terror Finance Briefing Book, Center on Sanctions and Illicit
Finance, March 30, 2017.
www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/yaya-j-fanusie-terror-finance-briefing-book/
2015
FATF, Emerging Terrorist Financing Risks,
Financial Action Task Force, October 2015.
www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/methodsandtrends/documents/emerging-terrorist-financing-risks.html
Kleponis, Greg and Tom Creal, "The 21st Century
Answer to Burning their Crops and Salting their Fields: Interdicting and
Destroying the ISIS Financial Network", Small Wars Journal,
August 1, 2015.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/the-21st-century-answer-to-%E2%80%9Cburning-their-crops-and-salting-their-fields%E2%80%9D-interdicting-and-
Lehr, Deborah and Wendy Chamberlin, Culture
under Threat: Fighting Terrorist Financing in the Middle East,
Huffington Post, May 12, 2015.
www.theantiquitiescoalition.org/culture-under-threat-fighting-terrorist-financing-in-the-middle-east/
MF, The IMF and the Fight Against Money
Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, International Monetary
Fund Fact Sheet, March 27, 2015.
www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/aml.htm
Minkina, Nicole, "The Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria: Financing the Threat", Yale Economic Review, February 13,
2015.
www.yaleeconomicreview.org/archives/article/the-islamic-state-of-iraq-and-syria-financing-the-threat
Keatinge, Tom.
"Nip It in the Bud: Disrupting Insurgent Financial Networks Before They
Take Root", Fletcher Security Review.
2014
Anderson, Major Wesley J.L., Disrupting Threat
Finances: Utilization of Financial Information to Disrupt Terrorist
Organizations in the Twenty-First Century, a monograph for the School
of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, AY 06-07.
www.investigativeproject.org/documents/testimony/342.pdf
2013
PWC, Threat Finance: More Licit and More Local
Than You Think, Price Waterhouse Coopers, April 2013.
www.pwc.com/us/en/forensic-services/publications/threat-finance.jhtml
Levi, Micheal (2013):
"Threat finance: disconnecting the lifeline of organized crime and
terrorism", Defense & Security Analysis, 29:2, 172-173.
2012
Carter, LtCol Jennifer E., USMC, Emerging DoD
Role in the Interagency Counter Threat Finance Mission, United States
Army War College, 2012.
handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA560988
Conway, J. Edward, "Analysis in Combat: The
Deployed Threat Finance Analyst", Small Wars Journal, July 5,
2012.
http://smallwarsjournal.com
2011
Boelter, Ralph S., Countering Terrorist
Financing - Statement Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee
on Crime and Terrorism, Washington, D.C., September 21, 2011. Boelter
was the Acting Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division of the
FBI.
www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/countering-terrorist-financing-progress-and-priorities
Stringer, Kevin D., "Tackling Threat Finance: A
Labor for Hercules or Sisyphus?", Parameters, Spring 2011. Posted
on Strategic Studies Institute webpage.
http://strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/articles/2011spring/stringer.pdf
2010
Flynn, Michael T. and Simone A. Ledeen, "Pay for
Play: Countering Threat Financing", Joint Force Quarterly, Issue
56, 1st Quarter 2010.
www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a515159.pdf
Levi, Michael, Combating the Financing of
Terrorism: A History and Assessment of the Control of 'Threat Finance',
Cardiff University, 2010. Posted on the Social Science Research Network
website.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1632167
2009
Bowman, Major Clarence W., Countering Threat
Finance as a Critical Subset of Irregular Warfare: An Interpreteive Case
Study of Northern Nigeria, School of Advanced Military Studies
(SAMS), Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, AY 2009.
www.soc.mil/SWCS/SWEG/AY_2009/Bowman,%20C%202009.pdf
2008
Lormel, Dennis M., "Combating Terrorist Financing
at the Agency and Interagency Levels", CTC Sentinel,
March 15, 2008. Paper published by the Combating Terrorism Center of the
West Point Military Academy.
www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/combating-terrorist-financing-at-the-agency-and-interagency-levels
2007
Anderson, Major Wesley J.L., Disrupting Threat
Finances: Utilization of Financial Information to Disrupt Terrorist
Organizations in the Twenty-First Century, a monograph for the School
of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, AY 06-07.
www.investigativeproject.org/documents/testimony/342.pdf
2003
Aufhauser, David. Terrorism: Growing Wahhabi
Influence in the United States - The Threat of Terrorist Financing,
Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, June 26,
2003.
www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/congress/terrorist_financing.htm
News Articles about Terrorist Organization Financing
February 24, 2016.
"How Islamic State's Secret Banking Network Prospers", The Wall
Street Journal. Money-exhange offices in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and
Jordan funnel millions of dollars daily in and out of militant-held
territory.
August 20, 2015.
"Four Pressing Issues in Comatting Terrorism Financing", by Alex
Zerden, American Banker. The author provides some recommendations
for the Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing.
May 19, 2015.
"ISIS Finances Are Strong". By Sarah Almukhtar, The New York
Times. The Islamic State has revenue and assets that are more than
enough to cover its current expenditures despite expectations that
airstrikes and falling oil prices would hurt the group's finances. Other
sources of income include extortion and taxation.
May 18, 2015.
"IS Militants Use Popular Russian Web Payment System to Raise Cash".
Radio Free Europe.IS militants from Russia's North Caucasus region are using the popular Russian QIWI wallet electronic payment system to raise money online.
May 18, 2015.
"Islamic State's War on Art Turns a Profit."
Bloomberg View.
Erin L. Thompson explains how IS uses looted ancient artifacts for raising
money.
May 12, 2015.
"Culture Under Threat: Fighting Terrorist Financing in the Middle East".
The World Post.
April 20, 2015. One Way to Flag Threats Outside
the U.S.: Follow the Money, Mission Corner.
February 11, 2015.
"Jihadists Turn to Virtual Digital Money for Financing". Voice of
America.
November 20, 2014.
"Financial Sector Terrorism Threat Grows". Bank Info Security.
June 23, 2014.
"Saudi Funding of ISIS", Policy Watch 2275, The
Washington Institute.
June 13, 2014.
"Guard members broaden Counter Threat Finance skills". DVIDS.
Guard Soldiers attend the Advanced Threat Finance Analysis Course (ATFAC)
at the Defense Intelligence Agencty.
March 7, 2014.
"Counter Threat Finance (CTF): Grasping the Eel". International
Relations and Security Network. Using counter threat finance
techniques to blunt criminal and terrorist networks presents a number of
challenges but some recommendations presented can improve efforts in this
area.
January 20, 2014.
"Regaining Control of the Financing Agenda in Syria", War on the
Rocks.
July 2010.
"Global Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing Threat Assessment",
July 2010". Council on Foreign Relations.
May 30, 2010.
"How the US is attacking Taliban funding". Global Post.
Endnotes
1. Read more about the JSOU Counter Threat Finance Course.
http://jsou.socom.mil/Pages/CourseInformation.aspx?courseName=Counter%20Threat%20Finance%20Course
2. Read more in
"Counterdrug launces new Counter Threat Finance program", National Guard, April 3, 2012.
3. Info from Afghan Threat Finance Cell entry in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Threat_Finance_Cell
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