ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses some of the challenges of trying to counter the sources of terrorist financing. It draws out several themes regarding how terrorist groups create portfolios of funding sources. The chapter examines the overall regime of counter-terrorist financing, with an emphasis on how various actors think about issues of priorities, strategy, organization, coordination, and measures of effectiveness. It offers an alternative approach to thinking about terrorism financing one that looks less at stopping the sources and movement of funds and more on the informational value of understanding terrorist financing as a window into a terrorist groups organizational structure, operations, alliances, and ideology. Popular support in the form of charities and donations is an important source of funding for several of the groups described in the case studies. The case studies highlighted how terrorists groups use legitimate businesses for raising money. In Iraq, for example, insurgents would sell their property.
