Congress to Examine Counterthreat Finance Successes & Plans

By Andrew Cochran

The U.S. House Armed Services Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities, chaired by Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, will hold a hearing on March 11 titled, "Tracking and Disrupting Terrorist Financial Networks: A Potential Model for Inter-agency Success?" The focus of the hearing is the Defense Department memorandum signed on December 2 establishing Defense Department counterthreat finance policy and the organizational structure inside DoD for the issue. As I wrote on December 5, the memorandum "permanently institutionalizes the 'threat finance cell' concept which has been the subject of joint operations between the Treasury and Defense Departments for over three years, and that I have written about for over a year here (see previous posts and my remarks on the subject to a money laundering enforcement conference on October 21). Never before has U.S. defense policy officially recognized the need to 'follow the money' and the benefits of working in tandem with the Treasury Department and other relevant civilian agencies."

Next week's hearing will be the most important public Congressional ever on the issue and will give DoD and the Treasury Department a chance to discuss some of the successes in Iraq, to the extent they can do so in an unclassified setting, and the challenges in exporting the concept elsewhere. Hopefully, this initiative will finally receive the accolades and full measure of support that it deserves.