Library Index :: National Security in the United States :: International Terrorism - Defining Terrorism, Motivations And Trends, International Terrorism Statistics, State-sponsored Terrorism, Substate Terror Groups

International Terrorism - Financing Terrorism

Any terrorist organization, no matter its size or type, requires substantial amounts of money and resources to be able to carry out attacks and maintain some form of cohesion. Funding for such organizations can come from state sponsors, individual contributors, seemingly legitimate "front" organizations, and criminal activities:

  • State sponsorship was common during the cold war, when both the United States and the Soviet Union supported various groups whose ideologies matched theirs or challenged the ideology of the other side. Afghanistan, Angola, South Africa, and parts of Latin America all served as battlegrounds in the war fought between the two major blocs. Iran and Libya have often been accused of supporting fundamental Islamic groups to export the 1979 Islamic revolution and encourage anti-Western sentiments.
  • Individual contributors come from a wide spectrum of society. Fund-raisers target individuals' emotions to elicit money and other resources. Millionaires, expatriate nationals, and members of wealthy families are frequent fund-raising targets of terrorist groups.
  • Laundering money through front organizations provides a way for groups to transfer cash from legitimate causes to terrorist ones.

TABLE 6.1

Active duty military personnel strengths, by regional area and country, March 31, 2004
Regional area/country Total Army Navy Marine Corps Air Force
United States and Territories
Continental United States (CONUS) 958,215 361,001 186,536 126,832 283,846
Alaska 17,989 7,843 91 20 10,035
Hawaii 35,810 16,978 8,260 5,819 4,753
Guam 3,315 36 1,419 6 1,854
Johnston Atoll 2 0 0 0 2
Puerto Rico 769 219 490 20 40
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands 26 26 0 0 0
U.S. Virgin Islands 6 1 3 0 2
Transients 31,397 5,022 9,932 2,498 13,945
Afloat 120,666 0 120,537 129 0
Total—United States and Territories 1,168,195 391,126 327,268 135,324 314,477
Europe
Albania 8 1 1 5 1
Austria 23 4 0 13 6
Belgium 1,534 883 92 36 523
Bosnia and Herzegovina 2,931 2,903 0 20 8
Bulgaria 12 4 1 5 2
Cyprus 26 3 0 14 9
Czech Republic 15 3 0 9 3
Denmark 23 2 4 6 11
Estonia 7 0 1 6 0
Finland 15 2 2 8 3
France 82 11 10 25 36
Germany* 75,603 58,598 296 213 16,496
Gibraltar 6 0 6 0 0
Greece 562 69 418 11 64
Greenland 138 0 0 0 138
Hungary 16 4 0 7 5
Iceland 1,754 2 1,031 1 720
Ireland 8 2 0 6 0
Italy* 13,354 3,196 5,218 61 4,879
Latvia 6 0 0 6 0
Lithuania 7 0 1 6 0
Luxembourg 15 10 0 5 0
Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of 104 76 1 21 6
Malta 7 0 0 7 0
Netherlands 722 358 27 14 323
Norway 85 12 12 12 49
Poland 20 5 1 10 4
Portugal 1,077 17 48 6 1,006
Romania 12 4 1 5 2
Serbia (includes Kosovo) 128 118 0 5 5
Slovenia 11 0 0 6 5
Spain 1,968 55 1,383 219 311
Sweden 10 1 1 5 3
Switzerland 20 1 2 12 5
Turkey 1,863 143 28 15 1,677
United Kingdom 11,801 432 1,188 97 10,084
Afloat 2,534 0 2,534 0 0
Total—Europe 116,507 66,919 12,307 897 36,384
Former Soviet Union
Azerbaijan 5 0 0 5 0
Georgia 38 0 0 38 0
Kazakhstan 10 3 0 6 1
Kyrgyzstan 8 0 0 8 0
Russia 79 19 3 46 1
Turkmenistan 7 0 0 7 0
Ukraine 15 10 1 0 4
Total—Former Soviet Union 162 32 4 110 16
East Asia and Pacific
Australia 205 16 77 36 76
Burma 10 3 0 6 1
Cambodia 5 5 0 0 0
China (includes Hong Kong) 60 9 14 30 7
Fiji 1 0 0 1 0
Indonesia (includes Timor) 24 7 4 10 3
Japan 40,045 1,864 5,396 18,112 14,673

Korea, Democratic Peoples Republic of 14 0 0 14 0
Korea, Republic of 40,258 30,190 362 266 9,440
Laos 5 1 0 2 2
Malaysia 15 2 3 5 5
Mongolia 1 1 0 0 0
New Zealand 8 2 2 0 4
Philippines 144 10 6 120 8
Singapore 196 5 125 19 47
Thailand 113 43 11 29 30
Vietnam 19 6 0 11 2
Afloat 16,601 0 12,422 4,179 0
Total—East Asia and Pacific 97,724 32,164 18,422 22,840 24,298
North Africa, Near East, and South Asia
Afghanistan (not available) 0 0 0 0 0
Algeria 9 1 0 7 1
Bahrain 1,496 20 1,321 131 24
Bangladesh 8 2 0 6 0
Diego Garcia 491 2 437 0 52
Egypt 350 277 5 20 48
India 28 7 4 11 6
Iraq (see OIF table) 0 0 0 0 0
Israel 38 6 3 16 13
Jordan 22 9 0 6 7
Kuwait (see OIF table) 6 0 6 0 0
Lebanon 4 4 0 0 0
Morocco 11 2 1 5 3
Nepal 9 3 0 6 0
Oman 31 3 1 7 20
Pakistan 26 4 2 15 5
Qatar 3,432 143 4 58 3,227
Saudi Arabia 291 136 24 25 106
Sri Lanka 6 0 1 5 0
Syria 9 3 0 6 0
Tunisia 15 6 2 6 1
United Arab Emirates 18 3 6 9 0
Yemen 15 4 0 11 0
Afloat 592 0 592 0 0
Total—North Africa, Near East, and South Asia 6,907 635 2,409 350 3,513
Sub-Saharan Africa
Botswana 6 1 0 5 0
Burundi 5 0 0 5 0
Cameroon 6 1 0 4 1
Chad 9 3 0 6 0
Congo (Kinshasa) 8 2 0 5 1
Cote D'Ivoire 12 4 0 8 8
Djibouti 539 1 0 538 0
Eritrea 5 3 0 0 2
Ethiopia 12 4 0 8 0
Ghana 11 4 0 7 0
Guinea 6 1 0 5 0
Kenya 29 12 1 12 4
Liberia 9 1 0 7 1
Madagascar 1 0 1 0 0
Mali 6 0 0 6 0
Mozambique 6 0 0 6 0
Niger 7 1 0 6 0
Nigeria 16 4 0 9 3
Senegal 9 1 1 7 0
Sierra Leone 2 0 0 2 0
South Africa 29 4 1 20 4
St. Helena (includes Ascension Island) 2 0 0 0 2
Tanzania, United Republic of 6 0 1 5 0
Togo 6 0 0 6 0
Uganda 9 1 0 8 0
Zambia 6 1 0 5 0
Zimbabwe 8 4 0 4 0
Total—Sub-Saharan Africa 770 53 5 694 18
Western Hemisphere
Antigua 2 0 0 0 2
Argentina 28 4 3 10 11

SOURCE: "Active Duty Military Personnel Strengths by Regional Area and Country (309A), March 31, 2004," U.S. Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, http://www.dior.whs.mil/mmid/M05/hst0403.pdf (accessed September 23, 2004)
Bahamas, The 32 0 26 6 0
Barbados 7 1 0 6 0
Belize 2 1 1 0 0
Bolivia 21 7 1 5 5
Brazil 37 8 5 19 5
Canada 147 9 41 9 88
Chile 25 5 3 10 7
Colombia 55 17 4 27 7
Costa Rica 7 1 0 6 0
Cuba (Guantanamo) 700 6 526 167 1
Dominican Republic 14 2 1 8 3
Ecuador 35 6 2 6 21
El Salvador 21 8 0 11 2
Guatemala 16 8 0 7 1
Guyana 1 1 0 0 0
Haiti 455 8 0 447 0
Honduras 413 197 2 9 205
Jamaica 12 1 4 7 0
Mexico 21 9 3 5 4
Nicaragua 11 4 0 7 0
Panama 16 6 4 6 0
Paraguay 11 4 0 6 1
Peru 35 6 11 13 5
Suriname 2 2 0 0 0
Trinidad and Tobago 5 0 0 5 0
Uruguay 13 3 3 6 1
Venezeula 32 10 3 8 11
Afloat 25 0 25 0 0
Total—Western Hemisphere 2,201 334 668 819 380
Undistributed
Ashore 29,025 2,553 11,890 14,582 0
Afloat 4,396 0 4,396 0 0
Total—undistributed 33,421 2,553 16,286 14,582 0
Total—foreign countries 257,692 102,690 50,101 40,292 64,609
Ashore 233,544 102,690 30,132 36,113 64,609
Afloat 24,148 0 19,969 4,179 0
NATO countries 110,494 63,800 9,756 747 36,191
Forward deployment Pacific Theater 101,610 32,218 20,286 22,889 26,217
Total—worldwide 1,425,887 493,816 377,369 175,616 379,086
Ashore 1,281,073 493,816 236,863 171,308 379,086
Afloat 144,814 0 140,506 4,308 0
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF data subject to change)
Total (in/around Iraq as of March 31, 2004) 211,028 155,291 14,838 25,568 15,331
  • Criminal activities, such as narcotics smuggling, bank robberies, and kidnappings, can also raise a great deal of money. For example, a right-wing group called the Order stole about $3.6 million from an armored truck in California in 1984. The Turkish Kurdistan Workers' Party, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Peru's Shining Path, al Qaeda, and Lebanon's Hizballah have all been linked to the drug trade.

Domestic monitoring of possible money laundering on behalf of terrorist organizations has been stepped up under the provisions of the USA Patriot Act. While American banks have issued fewer suspicious activity reports (SARs) related to terrorism since late 2001, they are reporting more SARs based not on names appearing on government watch lists but on their own initiative. This trend seems to show that banking institutions are becoming more aware of possible terrorist financial activity and transactions. (See Figure 6.8.)

International efforts to curb the financing of terrorism were weak and underdeveloped for many years. The September 11 terrorist attacks jump-started domestic and international efforts to destroy the financial infrastructure of various terrorist groups, but such a goal is far from complete. Immediately following the attacks, President George W. Bush signed the Executive Order on Terrorist Financing, giving the U.S. Treasury Department the authority to block the assets of individuals and organizations associated with terrorist organizations. In April 2002 UN Resolution 1373 called for the suppression of all terrorism financing. Whether the cooperation and communication between governments needed to make these efforts effective will be forthcoming remains to be seen.

FIGURE 6.8

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