Tracing the Terrorist Money

Terror knows no border and fighting it on all fronts requires besides resilience and concentration, creativity too. 

Harpoon, by Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and Samuel M. Katz is an account of the tremendous efforts deployed by the Mossad to track and subsequently block the financial support for terrorism. Initiated by the legendary Meir Dagan, the unit was designed to deter by any means the sources of wealth for various terrorist network, particularly those operating in Israel. 

The initiative was, among others, an answer to the dramatic outburst of terror in the 1990s. A new global paradigm was generated in the region, with powerful state actors willing to support generously the creation and maintaining of entities involved in acts of terror. The mission assigned to the specialists gathered by the Harpoon was to understand those new terror trends and besides the typical operations aimed to eliminate the perpetrators, to stop the flow of money. The philosophy that eventually was replicated after 9/11 by CIA as well (especially through the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program - TFTP), was that once the money will be disrupted, the blood shed would stop. 

Interestingly, the book offers significant insights into the financial aspects of the terror acts, by deconstructing it piece by piece. For instance, ´(...) the suicide bomber was the final link in a long supply chain of men, machines, and infrastructure that cost tens of thousands of dollars´. Drug and cigarettes smuggling operated through networks in South America (Venezuela, for instance) helped to finance terrorist activities within the state of Israel. Undermining those operations and disrupting the daily activities, including through the elimination of their heads of operations, jeopardized the possibility of organising and perpetrating acts of terror. 

An ingenious way that lead to the financial distress of the supporters of terror was the legal action against states and entities on behalf of the victims of terror attacks. Especially American citizens in Israel targeted by terrorist attacks in Israel and abroad were helped to get court decisions leading to blocking of bank accounts and financial assets of terror supporters. 

The insider perspectives brought by this book are very interesting for better understanding the practical aspects of the fight against terrorism those days. In a complex world, it requires sophistication and creativity to counter evildoers. Harpoon is such an example of good and smart practice.