Update on the Global Campaign Against Terrorist FinancingMaurice R. Greenberg, Mallory Factor, William F. Wechsler and Lee S. Wolosky
Council on Foreign Relations
June 2004
Introduction
In October 2002, this Task Force issued its initial report on terrorist financing. That report described the nature of the al-Qaeda financial network, the actions that had been taken to date to combat terrorist financing, and the obstacles that hindered those efforts. Among our core findings was that, after a promising start in the immediate wake of 9/11, the U.S. government’s efforts to combat terrorist financing remained “inadequate to assure sustained results commensurate with the ongoing threat posed to the national security of the United States.” A key problem, we found, was that “deficiencies in political will abroad—along with resulting inadequacies in regulatory and enforcement measures—are likely to remain serious impediments to progress.” Specifically, our initial report concluded:
“It is worth stating clearly and unambiguously what official U.S. government spokespersons have not: For years, individuals and charities based in Saudi Arabia have been the most important source of funds for al-Qaeda; and for years, Saudi officials have turned a blind eye to this problem.”
Our Task Force report also included a number of specific strategic and tactical recommendations to help remedy these problems. Our core recommendations included two organizational ones. We recommended centralizing authority for policy formation and implementation on these issues within the White House. On the international front, we recommended the creation of a new multilateral organization to facilitate international cooperation.
We also recommended the encouragement of the Saudi regime to strengthen significantly its efforts to combat terrorist financing. In this regard, we noted a recent historical record of inattention, denial, and half measures. We recommended directly confronting the lack of political will in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere through the institution of a declaratory policy that would permit or compel U.S. officials to speak more frankly about the nature of the problem.