The Silent Struggle Against Terrorist Financing

In the more than three years since the 9/11 attacks, the "war on terrorism" has been fought on many fronts. Much attention has been paid to military action in Afghanistan and Iraq and to prosecutions and preventive measures taken by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security

in the United States. Meanwhile, a somewhat quieter, complex campaign against terrorist financing has shown that financial intelligence, investigations, prosecutions, sanctions, and diplomacy, when carefully coordinated among national authorities and with the private sector, can make a meaningful contribution to the security of the United States against the threat of Islamist terrorism.

Going forward, U.S. policymakers should invest in building infrastructure, both in the United States and around the world, to deepen and broaden the role of financial intelligence investigators and analysts. Contrary to the occasional claims of politicians, following and interdicting money will never "eliminate" terrorism or even "cut off" financial support to particular terrorist groups; so long as people are motivated to commit acts of terrorism, funds will flow to support them. Indeed, the level of financial support provided to a particular terrorist group may be a useful indicator of the depth of its political support, and vice versa. Unfortunately, unprecedented levels of anger and resentment in the Arab and Muslim worlds over U.S. foreign policy threaten to undermine efforts to control terrorist financing, and perhaps the "war on terrorism" more broadly. Policymakers need to take a longer view, develop metrics to evaluate whether we are winning or losing the hearts and minds of potential Islamist terrorists, and act accordingly.