Expanding and Sharing Terrorism Finance Intelligence

Trump announced the new Terrorist Financing Targeting Center, which will be co-chaired by the US (Department of the Treasury) and Saudi Arabia with collaboration of countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) 

Both the Treasury Department and the military at CENTCOM had financial intelligence units by 2005 stateside.  The Treasury had largely been concentrated on state sponsored elements, and the military on the battlefield elements.   Those efforts were combined beginning in late 2005.  By late 2006, a small cell of 20 people combining a mixture of US Federal agents having criminal investigative experience and US intelligence analysts began to work on the ground in Iraq in the Iraq Threat Finance Cell (ITFC).  The mission was to stop the flow of money to terrorists.

By the very early months of 2007, the cell was preparing target packages and co-opting US military units to conduct raids focused on removing the actual money and the path ways through which that money flowed.  Initially the primary effective operations were focused on Al-Qaeda and former regime elements, which were essentially Sunni populations.  The Shia targets, largely linked to the Iraqi government and Iran received top cover from the Iraqi government - meaning the democratically elected government too often gave the Shia targets immunity.

Moving the threat finance intelligence effort to the battle field allowed 24-48 hour turn around on intelligence collected and interrogations, conducted by agent-analyst-interpreter teams (AAIT).  These AAIT affected the flow of money in real time.

Terrorist groups are financially constrained like other military organization business models.  Bullets and bombs are only 5 percent of the cost of doing business. Terrorist groups must pay for mundane essentials including housing, medical care, food, payroll, death benefits to families, transportation of people and equipment, advertising and other administrative overhead.  Taking money away from the terrorist groups reduced terrorism events much greater than just payroll and bullets.


Terrorism financial intelligence efforts expanded to and in Afghanistan and  the rest of the world.  Trump is asking leaders in Muslims country to sharing the information and the burden.   Sharing financial and intelligence can be a double edged sword.

 

References

1.  U.S. and Saudi Arabia to Co-Chair New Terrorist Financing Targeting Center - 5/21/2017
https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/sm0092.aspx
2.  Analysis in Combat: The Deployed Threat Finance Analyst, By J. Edward Conway

Small Wars Journal article, July 5 2012
3.  Fact Sheet: Combating the Financing of Terrorism, Disrupting Terrorism at its Core

https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1291.aspx
4.  Kirk Meyer, Former Director of the Afghan Threat Finance Cell

https://globalecco.org/kirk-meyer-former-director-of-the-afghan-threat-finance-cell