Anti-Terror Strategy, the 9/11 Commission Report & Terrorism Financing: Implications for U.S. Policymakers

Abstract

Throughout the course of history, few, if any, wars against groups using terrorist-type tactics have been won by defensive operations. Accordingly, United States anti-terrorism strategy relies heavily on the doctrine of preemption. As a subset of this framework of preemption, U.S. antiterrorism strategy targets the financing of terrorism. In the 9/11 Commission report's recommendations are two overarching issues which relate to the financing of terror: 1. what strategy -or strategy mix- best addresses the issue of terrorist financing, and 2. to what degree are the goals and objectives sought by such a strategy realistically achievable, cost effective, and in tandem with other counter- terrorism and foreign and domestic policy objectives. Central to the policy debate is deciding on and prioritizing strategic goals. Once goals are in place and prioritized, a framework can be designed to measure the effectiveness of efforts designed to address terror finance. This paper provides an overview of United States anti-terrorism strategy and the overall role of terror financing within the framework of current policy. It then looks at the 9/11 Commission Report's approach to terror finance strategy and identifies issues and challenges facing decisionmakers.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA521641

Entities

People

  • Raphel Perl

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Homeland Security
  • Intellectual Property
  • International Security
  • Law
  • Law Enforcement
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Public Relations
  • Security
  • Security Personnel
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • Warfare
  • Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies