convergence

Threat Finance
Since the start of the program, the TFTP has provided thousands of valuable leads to U.S.
Government agencies and other governments that have aided in the prevention or investigation
of many of the most visible and violent terrorist attacks and attempted attacks of the past
decade.
As part of its vital national security mission, the Treasury Department issues subpoenas
to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a Belgium-based
company with U.S. offices that operates a worldwide messaging system used to
transmit financial transaction information and seek information on suspected international
terrorists and their networks. Under the terms of the subpoenas, the U.S. Government may
only review information as part of specific terrorism investigations. SWIFT information
greatly enhances our ability to map out terrorist networks, often filling in missing links in an
investigative chain. The U.S. Government acts on this information and, for counterterrorism
purposes only, shares leads generated by the TFTP with relevant governments’ counterterrorism
authorities in order to target and disrupt the activities of terrorists and their supporters.
By following the money trail, the TFTP has allowed the United States and its allies to identify
and locate operatives and their financiers, chart terrorist networks, and help keep money out
of their hands. 38
A successful case of following the money trail and leveraging financial intelligence uncovered
the terror-crime nexus between Lebanese Hizballah and drug-trafficking rings. In
February 2011, the United States accused one of Lebanon’s famously secretive banks, Beirut
Bank, of laundering money for an international cocaine ring with ties to Hizballah, the Shi’ite
militant group. In the wake of the bank’s exposure and arranged sale, its ledgers offer evidence
of an intricate global money-laundering apparatus that, with the bank as its hub, appeared to
let Hizballah move huge sums into the legitimate financial system despite sanctions aimed at
cutting off its economic lifeblood. 39
For the United States, taking down the bank was part of a long-running strategy of
deploying financial weapons to fight terrorism. The account of the serpentine 6-year inquiry
and what has since been revealed is based on interviews with government, law enforcement,
and banking officials across three continents as well as intelligence reports and police and
corporate records. 40 From the Treasury Department’s perspective, the case is a victory in the
battle against terrorism financing. Lebanon’s Central Bank showed that it was willing to shut
down the Lebanese Canadian Bank and sell it to a “responsible owner,” said Daniel L. Glaser,
assistant Treasury secretary for terrorism financing. An important avenue to Hizballah has
been blocked. 41
The Afghan Threat Finance Cell
This use of financial intelligence reaches across the interagency and across borders. As an
example, threat financing is one of the focus areas in U.S. and coalition counterterrorism
and counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan. It is believed that the drug trade, ancillary
crimes, and extortion, as well as foreign donations, are funding the insurgency. Tracking illicit
funding has been challenging as the Taliban and its affiliates have diversified their fundraising
activities and modes of moving money. 42 Richard Barrett, Director of the United Nations
121