Countries Differ in Assessment of Counter-Terrorism Financial Enforcement Cooperation

On the Anniversary of the September 11, 2002 terrorist financial enforcement cooperation efforts. On August 29, 2002, the U.S. Department of the Treasury characterized international counter-terrorism financial enforcement cooperation as strong and consistent. Since September 11, 2002, the U.S. and other countries have frozen more than $112 million in terrorist-related assets. The U.N. added individuals and entities to the list, making 234 individuals and entities currently designed as financiers of terror. The Treasury statement said over 160 countries have blocking orders in force, hundreds of accounts worth more than $70 million have been blocked abroad, and foreign law enforcement have acted quickly to close terrorist financing networks and arrest financiers. Speaking on September 9, 2002 at an international symposium on economic crime in Cambridge, England, David Aufhauser, general counsel to the U.S. Treasury Department and head of the U.S. Joint Agency Committee on Terrorist Finance, said the counter-terrorism financial enforcement efforts have disrupted and made less cohesive the Al Qaeda Network. He also criticized a recent U.N. report that said Al Qaeda?s operational capacity was still highly effective.