Perspective: Financing terrorismTo Fight Terrorists, Follow the Money
Prosecuting money launderers is the best way to stamp out terrorism and corruption. For too long, counterterrorism operations have focused narrowly on disrupting attacks. Without aggressive prosecution of those who carry out the groups’ financial transactions, the illicit networks that provide financial and logistical support for Hezbollah are likely to remain intact.
In 2015, British authorities caught Hezbollah-linked operatives stockpiling more than 6,000 pounds of explosives on the outskirts of London, new reports revealed last month. The British deserve praise for unearthing the London bomb factory. But they did not destroy the underlying commercial or financial structures that allowed the group to buy and stockpile such materials.
Emanuele Ottolenghi writes in Foreign Policy that for too long, counterterrorism operations have focused narrowly on disrupting attacks. Without aggressive prosecution of those who carry out the groups’ financial transactions, the illicit networks that provide financial and logistical support for Hezbollah are likely to remain intact.
Washington should be working with its partners to use the legal tools at its disposal, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)—an international intergovernmental watchdog tasked by its member states (37 countries comprising the most important global financial centers in the world) with tightening compliance standards to crack down on illicit finance. The FATF has the ability and the mandate to fight a much more robust war against international money laundering, not just to target white-collar criminals but to stop the flow of money to Hezbollah and other terrorist groups.
