ABSTRACT
In addition to its other responsibilities to promote economic growth and stability at home and overseas, the Treasury Department-in cooperation with other agencies-plays a leading role in curbing the funding sources for terrorist groups and for states that sponsor terrorism (see Figure 17.1).
The focus point is the Ofce of the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence,1 which was created by the USA PATRIOT Act.2 The position is part of the department’s national security mission to counter terrorist threats to the United States and protect the international nancial system from abuse. The undersecretary is charged with identifying and ferreting out international terrorist activities that may be using the U.S. banking system to launder money and to disrupt and dismantle the nancial networks that support terrorist activities. The ofce also is in the forefront of identifying ways that terrorists may try surreptitiously to use the U.S. nancial system to pay for attempts to secure weapons of mass destruction.
