WMD Financing Elusive on International Playing Field

Sigal Mandelker, undersecretary of terrorism and financial intelligence at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on Jan. 17 to discuss efforts to combat terror financing.

“The foundation of our economic authorities is a strong and robust anti-money laundering, combating the financing of terrorism [AMLCFT] regime, and one of my top priorities … is to ensure that the AMLCFT framework remains strong and effective,” she said. “Such a regime keeps illicit actors out of the financial system and allows us to track and target those who try to slip through.”

It’s a task not just reserved for the United States. It’s part of a global effort among cooperating countries and agencies to seek out rogue actors wending their way through financial markets worldwide to fund nefarious efforts. Perhaps most dangerous are those who dodge and weave behind seemingly innocuous fronts to funnel money to weapon of mass destruction (WMD) efforts that can range from conventional to nuclear and everything in between.

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