Biting the Hand that Feeds You: The Abuse of Islamic Charities by Terrorist Organizations

摘要

Since September 12, 2001, countering terrorist financing has been one of the many major fronts used in the war on terrorism. Outside of monitoring communications through high technology, the next most important task for intelligence gathering entities against terrorist organizations is how they raise, store, and move money in the financing of their operations. Although there are many conduits that a terrorist can choose from when moving money, they use Islamic charities both licitly and illicitly within the terrorist financial network. Research is still incomplete as to how Islamic charities operate, how they raise funding, and exactly how they accomplish their part of terrorist activity when involved. Determining how creditable Islamic charities avoid being compromised, and how to detect charities being used as false fronts by terrorists can establish a common picture to detect future abuses. Once established, agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, and international agencies such as the Financial Action Task Force can develop strategies around this common picture to deter terrorist activities within Islamic charitable organizations.