The US has come up with counterterrorism strategies which have been coordinated with other Agencies in an effort to ensure that the terrorists are not able to finance their operations(Weiss2010). The FBI-USA PATRIOT ACT has established some tools that will ensure that all terrorist Acts are enforced in an effort to combat terrorism. Several Anti Money Laundering Laws have been formed to protect the financial system from such illicit activities(Lormel,2009).
Currently some of these laws are provided in the following acts:
a) Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) of 1970. This ensures that all movements of money in and out of the USA is monitored and identified from the source as provided by trail of transactions. The banks have to identify the persons and report any cash in excess of $ 10000 (Biern, 2007).
b) Money Laundering Control Act (1986). It was formed to make laundering of money a federal crime which can be enforced by the state. It requires bank s to keep records of financial transactions as per the BSA.
c) Annunzio-Wylie Anti-Money Laundering Act (1992). It ensured that there is advisory group on the matters of secrecy in banks and requires that reports on any suspicious persons should be made to the federal authority (Biern, 2007).
d) Money Laundering Suppression Act (1994). Ensured that all states had uniform laws relating to the Money services and be registered.
e) Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. To ensure identification and reporting of persons with excess transactions of $3,000.
f) Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Strategy Act (1998). Facilitated the implementation of task forces in areas with a prevalence of money laundering as well as training of these examiners.
g) Intelligence Reform & Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Required that nay suspected funds that are transferred across the borders to be reported by the financial institutions to the relevant authorities as soon as possible(Lormel,2009).
In our current federal statutes in action, the FBI has established an interagency review group that will bring together several agencies to fight against the financing of the terrorism activities e.g. the Terrorism Financial Review Group (TFRG). This is a great step towards combating the terrorism financing as it provides expertise in resources (Biern, 2007).
The TFRG has tried to check the links of the hijackers within the USA and also on how they finance their operations. It succeeded in getting more details about the hijackers with regard to their financial operations(Weiss2010). It has also dismantled all efforts by the terrorists in trying to finance their operations through a thorough investigation.
Terrorist Financing Operations Section (TFOS) has participated in targeting all NGOs that try to provide any kind of financial support to any organizations that have affiliations with the Terrorist globally as they fund the poor people e.g. Al-Qaida(Weiss2010).
The local law enforcement can work with the federal government to effectively combat terrorist financing through the use of National Security Letters (NSLs) have assisted the FBI in investigation of the communications that are used by the terrorists to enhance their operations. This has been useful to the federal authority in getting more information. The Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is also working closely with the FBI by enhancing inspection for security across the borders.These tools have enabled the FBI to understanding and educate its including the use of Treasury Department in issuing new regulations which shall facilitate prevention of terrorism acts (Biern, 2007).
In conclusion, other issues involved with terrorism can be solved by the following recommendations that can be used by the federal state to control terrorism financing:
a) Assist other countries in law enforcement against terrorism
b) Freeze all assets belonging to terrorism affiliated organizations(Weiss2010).
c) Control all NGO’s in financing the poor people
However, to effectively implement all of the above strategies, there should be participation of the U.S. Government and the citizens.
References
Biern, H. (2007, November 04). The bank secrecy act and the USA patriot Act. Retrieved from
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/testimony/2004/20041117/default.htm
Lormel, D. (2009). Terrorism and government information. Washington, DC: Sage publication ltd.
Weiss, M. (2010).Terrorist financing: U.S. Agency Effortsand Inter-Agency Coordination. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
