Publisher's Synopsis
The aim of Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing is to assess the effectiveness of current money-laundering and counter-terror finance efforts and tools when faced with a world containing new and evolving threats. The initial 6 months of operation of the Task Force shed significant light on multiple issues with regards to counter-threats finance and anti-money laundering initiatives. First was the discovery of the various revenue streams ISIS utilizes to fund its terror operation, and the ways in which the United States may effectively counter them, such as continuing to target ISIS oil infrastructure, working with regional allies to close porous borders, and a better police to travel with foreign fighters. Second, the task force brought about a consensus that there is a need for greater information-sharing throughout the financial system and between government agencies, as well as an increased integration of government databases. Trade-based money laundering is the process of disguising the proceeds of crime by moving those proceeds through the use of trade transactions in an attempt to legitimize their illicit origins. This practice allows hundreds of billions of dollars to be laundered annually. Currently, there is ample opportunity for terrorist groups to exploit the international trade system, with low risk of being caught. According to the Financial Action Task Force, key characteristics of the international trade system, including the enormous volume of trade flows and the complexity therein, can arise from the practice of co-mingling illicit funds with the cash flows of legitimate businesses, and the limited recourse to verification procedures or programs to exchange customs data between countries, have made it both attractive and vulnerable to illicit exploitation.
