Reviewing the Treasury's Role in Safeguarding the American Financial System
Washington,
November 8, 2017 -
The Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance held a hearing today entitled “Financial Intelligence and Enforcement: Treasury’s Role in Safeguarding the American Financial System.” This hearing gave the Subcommittee an overview of the functions of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI).
“TFI, and the bureaus and agencies that comprise it, play a vital role in exposing the movement of illicit finance within our nation’s financial system,” said Subcommittee Chairman Steve Pearce (R-NM). “The threat of terrorism is ever-evolving and TFI must be able to adapt to the fluid environment of illicit finance. As Congress examines the issues surrounding the detection and disruption of bad actors in our financial system, Treasury’s collection and analysis of financial intelligence is pivotal to successfully interrupting terrorist plots and criminal schemes. Moving forward, modernizing the current system to reflect the capabilities of today’s institutions and ensure law enforcement receives a complete and detailed picture of criminal activity is paramount.
“TFI and Congress need to continually evaluate and improve our nation’s ability to detect and intercept the financial resources of terrorists and to prevent criminals from exploiting our financial system for personal gain. I thank the Treasury’s Office of TFI Under Secretary Sigal Mandelker for attending today’s hearing and working with Congress to improve efforts to combat terrorist financing.”
Key Takeaways
- TFI was stood up after the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 in an effort to harmonize terror finance laws and regulations.
- It is paramount that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and other TFI components have the most up-to-date technology and necessary tools in place to identify illicit and terrorist activity so our financial institutions do not become inadvertent conduits or enablers of the next terror attack.
- Better information sharing among the government agencies and between financial institutions in particular is necessary to root out existing and discover new forms of illicit finance.
- Both TFI and Congress need to continually evaluate and improve our nation’s ability to starve terrorists of any financial resources they need to carry out their evil attacks and to prevent criminals from exploiting our financial system for personal gain.
Topline Quotes from Witnesses
“Driving the campaign against financial crime, FinCEN continues to promote transparency and accountability in the U.S. and international financial systems by focusing on preventing money laundering and illicit financing in new sectors and through new pathways.” -- The Honorable Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary, Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, U.S. Department of the Treasury
