Terrorism Prevention: Terrorist Financing, Money Laundering, and Tax Evasion

Question 1: How important is border security for terrorism prevention?  Where does the intelligence community fit into this scenario? 

Strategic border security measures are an integral factor in the implementation of counter-terrorism strategies and terrorism prevention at large. Border security entails the protection of a country’s land, air, and maritime borders from the illegal movement of contraband, weapons, drugs, and people.  Border security is crucial in eliminating the gaps found in a country’s borders that may provide a loophole for individuals affiliated with terrorist groups to enter the country. For example, reports show that most terrorists have managed to enter the United States through its borders on previous occasions (Payan, 2016) . One such case involves Walid Kabbani, one of the 9/11 terrorists, who smuggled explosives through the US-Canada border. However, with the effective border security measures put in place, such as increased border patrols and surveillance, it has become hard for these individuals to gain entry into the country thereby leading to improved terrorism prevention measures.  

The intelligence community fits in by collaborating with border security personnel to prevent terrorism through the provision of intelligence data on possible terrorist threats within and outside the country borders. The provision of this information and data by the intelligence agencies, such as the CIA, is crucial in the identification, prevention, and thwarting of terrorist activities. It is important for border security to carry out such activities as it makes it simple to identify and arrest terrorists who may want to enter the country, which prevents the occurrence of any terrorist activity. 

  Question 2: Discuss the significance of "If Osama or al-Awlaki (or any top-level terrorist group leader) is dead.” What do you think are the possible effects of whether the leader of a significant terrorist group is dead or not? Be sure to address the significance of this in relation to preventing more terrorism. Be sure to include the role of intelligence in this prevention strategy. 

The death of any renowned terrorist leader is crucial in the fight against terrorism. For instance, the case of Osama Bin Laden, the late leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group is a good example in answering the question. The individual had proven to be a formidable force against the United States in waging terrorist activities. His influence and strategies were behind most of the biggest terrorist acts to be witnessed against the United States such as the 9/11 attacks. Subsequently, the death of Osama proved to be a huge milestone in the war against terror.  

The act of killing a terrorist leader is commonly referred to as decapitation. Decapitation entails the planned targeting and successful elimination of the head of any terrorist organization ( Clemens, 2016) . Decapitation is done to disseminate and disorganize the terrorist group by destroying its line of command. Killing the leader of any terrorist group is significant in reducing its operational activities. The reason behind this notion is that a terrorist leader such as Osama bin Laden happens to be the main mastermind behind most of the terror activities by the group. They are actively involved in the decision-making and planning processes of these activities. Therefore killing the leader destabilizes the terrorist group, which results in a reduction or complete elimination of terror activities by the group. 

Intelligence plays a fundamental role in this terrorism prevention strategy. Using intelligence, security agencies are able to determine the location that the terrorist leader is most likely to be found to facilitate swift decapitation. Additionally, intelligence is crucial in the identification of an individual who is considered influential in the decision-making hierarchy of a terrorist organization. Identifying the individual is pivotal in affirming that killing the person will result in the destabilization of the group.  

Question 3:  Within the field of FININT, there is some confusion over whether the appropriate goal is to disrupt, dismantle, or demolish terrorism. Given that it may be impossible to totally stop the flow of funds in support of terrorism, which goal for financial counterterrorism would be most effective and why? How effective are current intelligence gathering techniques in the effort to stop this flow? 

            Financial intelligence in terrorism prevention involves the gathering of financial information on various entities considered involved in terrorism. The primary objective of FININT is to understand the nature of these entities and to predict their intentions with their resources and finances. Through the intelligence gathered through FININT, countermeasures are designed to try stopping the finances channeled to fund terrorist activities. These funds are mainly channeled through money laundering which is a gross economic crime. Conversely, given the impossibility of completely stopping the funding of terrorist activities, it would be prudent to focus on dismantling of the available channels. Dismantling the available channels such as money that facilitate funding of terrorism will prove to be the most effective goal for financial counter-terrorism. Financial intelligence should concentrate on the identification of all the available channels used to transfer funds to terrorist groups. After the identification of these mediums, the financial counter-terrorism agencies should purpose to find ways to eliminate them. Demolishing these channels means that most of the available ways used in the transfer of funds to terror groups are eliminated and therefore reducing the available resources that these groups receive to perform their activities.  

            Currently, financial counter-terrorism measures have proven to be partly effective in attaining their objectives. Through financial intelligence, the identification and monitoring of the flow of funds to terror groups, has proven to be a positive addition to the war on terror. The strategy is referred to as combating the financing of terrorism (CFT). Using the above strategy, security agencies have used the flow of funds to track and capture individuals that are involved in the planning and execution of terrorism. Despite its effectiveness, financial intelligence has not been able to eradicate the funding of terrorism by donors who sympathize with these acts ( D'Souza, 2017) . Focusing on destroying the available mediums of money transfer such as social media will highly contribute to the effectiveness of the role played by financial intelligence in terrorism prevention. 

Question 4: If you could fix one thing, what would it be that you believe needs fixing in terms of successful intelligence reform to accomplish the task of prevention of terrorism? (No wrong answers – just be sure to include the rationale you used in making this choice as part of your answer.) 

            The main area that needs fixing in the prevention of terrorism is increased cooperation between the various agencies. In US, 17 organizations make up the intelligence community. However, among these organizations two independent agencies are Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The intelligence community despite its composition does not fully support the collaboration of agencies in preventing terrorist activities. Mostly, these agencies carry out their activities independently without consulting the other parties. However, the idea does not mean that the agencies do not cooperate. The various agencies making up the intelligence community have a reputation of only collaborating in serious terror threats ( Svendsen, 2009) . Other than these situations, they mostly function differently despite all being under the Department of National Intelligence (DNI). The agencies all work independently and have disparate organizational arrangements in the way they deal with terror threats. The situation in the DNI might be seen as one that promotes diversity in the counter-terrorism measures, but the underlying fact is that it limits the productivity and success of the intelligence agencies due to lack of extensive cooperation. Therefore, in attaining successful intelligence reforms, it would be prudent to emphasize the need for more collaboration among the various agencies in the intelligence community. 

Extensive cooperation between these agencies will be significant in successfully preventing terrorism in America and around the world. The collaboration will be achieved through restructuring the overall make-up of the Department of National Intelligence to create a system that facilitates more inter-agency cooperation in the war against terror. General cooperation will also contribute to the elimination of jurisdiction battles among the intelligence agencies. In turn, this will create a conducive environment that supports teamwork and collaboration in combating and preventing terrorism. 

References 

Clemens, I. V. (2016). Headhunting: Evaluating the Disruptive Capacity of Leadership Decapitation on Terrorist Organizations. 

D'Souza, J. (2017). Terrorist financing, money laundering, and tax evasion: Examining the performance of financial intelligence units. CRC Press. 

Payan, T. (2016). The Three US-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration, and Homeland Security: Drugs, Immigration, and Homeland Security. ABC-CLIO. 

Svendsen, A. D. (2009). Intelligence cooperation and the war on terror: Anglo-American security relations after 9/11. Routledge.