Rethinking Global Counterterrorist Financing Full Text
Abstract The terrorism and extremism landscape has shifted significantly over the past several years, but global counterterrorism and particularly counterterrorist financing (CTF) practices have been slow to adapt. CTF has traditionally been conceptualized as stopping the flow of funds to terrorists or “following the money,” but CTF has much more utility than just those narrow ideas in the fight against terrorism. The way the international community thinks about CTF is out of date, and global efforts to prevent and detect terrorist financing are falling short. Fortunately, a conceptual shift and a broader scope for CTF policy and practice can yield significant benefits. Improved policies should expand the criminalization and financial intelligence approach to CTF to include covert and disruptive action against terrorist financiers and financial activity, and reevaluate financial exclusion—such as sanctions and derisking—and their utility against both new and old threats.