Daniel Glaser
“National Security and the International Financial System”
America’s fight against terrorism generally operates through complex networks. In this context, a terrorist act, no matter how basic and inexpensive, cannot be accomplished without a sophisticated financial and operational infrastructure. Terrorist organizations such as al Qaida and Hamas require a financial and operational infrastructure. They must pay for the security of “safe havens,” financial support for the families of “martyrs,” recruitment, indoctrination, logistical support, and personnel training. This doesn’t even get into the costs of ostensibly humanitarian efforts—charitable organizations, medical clinics, and schools—that are either created as fronts for terrorism or to win support and recruits. Finally, there is the cost of weapons. In short, the horrific results of terrorism require the raising, movement, and use of considerable funds.
Terrorists leave identifiable and traceable footprints throughout global financial systems, and these footprints must be pursued “downstream” to identify future perpetrators and facilitators, and “upstream” to identify funding sources and to dismantle supporting entities and individuals.
Daniel Glaser is the primary U.S. Treasury official for the development and coordination of international anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing policy. He is a key official in developing and implementing strategies to disrupt and dismantle money laundering and terrorist financing networks worldwide.
As the Treasury department’s deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, he serves as the head of the U.S. delegation to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)—the premier international body in the fight against money laundering. Glaser has also addressed terrorist financing issues with an array of other international bodies, including the G-7, the International Monetary Fund, and World Bank, and has served as the lead Treasury negotiator of the money laundering provisions in the U.N. Transnational Organized Crime Convention.