The Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing of the House Financial Services Committee released a report Tuesday highlighting the methods terrorist groups use to secure money and prescribing ways for the United States to combat them.
The report, which was the product of a bipartisan group created by Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling in March last year, suggests that much work remains to combat terror financing despite many advances in preventing terrorists from acquiring the funding necessary to commit attacks in the post-9/11 era. To illustrate the seriousness of the national security challenge stemming from taking on terror finance, the task force specifically details the manner in which major terrorist groups have secured funding for their activities.
There is a particular emphasis in the report on the fundraising activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria, ISIS in Syria, Hezbollah in Latin America, Al-Shabaab in Somalia, and FARC in Colombia. Another important group of actors cited in the report are the world’s three remaining state sponsors of terror: Iran, Sudan, and, Syria.
The many ways the report shows through research and expert testimony how terrorist organizations have secured funding for themselves are both revealing and surprising. In the case of ISIS, which is known for its savage slaughter of innocent civilians broadcast online, the terrorist group has become something of a black market Christie’s or Sotheby’s.
While ISIS is infamous for its use of oil as a revenue stream, the terrorist group has diversified and is raising significant amounts of money from the sale of stolen antiquities. The radical Islamist terrorist group profits so extensively from stolen antiquities that the task force held a hearing dedicated to the matter April 19 titled “Preventing Cultural Genocide: Countering the Plunder and Sale of Priceless Cultural Antiquities by ISIS.”
One of the most eye-opening hearings held by the task force highlighted just how close to home the challenges of terror finance are by emphasizing the security issues posed in Latin America. Hezbollah, for example, has associated itself with Latin American narcotics distribution networks. The terrorist group has set up something of a regional base for itself in the Tri-Border Area, where Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil share a common border, and where there is a sizeable Lebanese Shia diaspora.
Apart from effectively identifying the terrorist organizations threatening U.S. national security, the report also proposes several reforms to the way the U.S. Department of the Treasury gathers financial intelligence. Some of the many proposals for the upcoming Congress include: resolving to improve public and private sector partnerships, ensuring that foreign partners in developing countries can rely on continued U.S. assistance, and getting more Treasury attaches serving overseas.
These goals will give President Trump something to consider seriously when formulating his own counter-terrorism strategy. The task force report highlights the importance of reestablishing a fully functional, interagency Terrorist Financing Working Group to ensure communication and cooperation throughout the federal government in confronting this matter. While President Trump has emphasized the strength of the U.S. military in combatting and deterring terrorism, it is clear from the task force report that the more quiet work of financial intelligence gathering will also continue to be crucial in the war on terror.
The report can be accessed here.
J.P. Carroll is a freelance national security and foreign affairs reporter based in Washington, D.C., with a particular focus on U.S. relations with Latin America and Europe. Follow him on Twitter @JPCarrollDC1.
