Skip to page content

Terrorism Financing

Terrorism Financing
commentary
ISIS's New Plans to Get Rich and Wreak Havoc
Colin P. Clarke @ColinPClarke
Oct 10, 2018
Foreign Policy
Although the Islamic State has lost nearly 98 percent of the territory it once controlled, it is ripe for a comeback in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq and Syria. The group has proven that it is capable of making money even without controlling large population centers.
Read More »

Terrorism Threat Assessment
commentary
Toy Drones and Twitter: The Ability of Individuals to Wreak Large-Scale Havoc
Colin P. Clarke @ColinPClarke
Jun 18, 2018
The National Interest
Lone wolves or small groups could use drones, virtual currencies, encrypted communications, and artificial intelligence for nefarious purposes. The threat is even greater when these technologies are used in conjunction with disinformation spread over social media.
Read More »
The Islamic State (Terrorist Organization)
essay
What Life Under ISIS Looked Like from Space
Jan 9, 2018
Satellite images show how ISIS attempted to govern in Iraq and Syria, the economic damage the group left behind, and what it will take to rebuild.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
q&a
Oil, Extortion Still Paying Off for ISIS
Oct 27, 2017
The Cipher Brief
ISIS's oil revenues declined from a peak of $40 million per month in 2015 to $4 million per month as of early October 2017. Despite the massive reduction, it's still a substantial amount of money for a group whose expenditures decrease with the size of the population and territory it controls and decreased recruitment.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
commentary
Hezbollah Has Been Active in America for Decades
Colin P. Clarke @ColinPClarke
Aug 28, 2017
The National Interest
Hezbollah has been active inside the United States for decades, engaging in a range of activities that include fundraising and money laundering. The U.S. and its allies should continue to combat the financing of terrorism and take action against the funding of terrorist groups on U.S. soil.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
commentary
ISIS Is So Desperate It's Turning to the Drug Trade
Colin P. Clarke @ColinPClarke
Jul 25, 2017
Fortune
As the Islamic State loses territory, it is forced to seek new revenue streams to exploit, including drug trafficking. Proceeds garnered from peddling narcotics affords jihadis in Europe the financial flexibility to travel to Syria, to fund attacks, and to pay for their return trips home.
Read More »
Counterterrorism
commentary
What Happens After ISIS Goes Underground
Colin P. Clarke @ColinPClarke, Chad C. Serena
May 30, 2017
The National Interest
As the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria suffers defeats on the battlefield, it is expanding its cyber presence to continue to encourage attacks abroad. The more the group relies on cyberspace, the more likely it will expose important segments of its organization to detection and disruption.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
commentary
Can the Islamic State Survive Financially?
Patrick B. Johnston, Colin P. Clarke @ColinPClarke
May 15, 2017
Lawfare
Significant gains have been made in attacking the Islamic State's cash and diminishing its ability to finance high-frequency attacks in Iraq and Syria. But the group may retain enough money to support sporadic attacks in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.
Read More »
The Islamic State (Terrorist Organization)
commentary
The Caliphate Is Crumbling: What Comes Next?
Colin P. Clarke @ColinPClarke, Craig Whiteside
May 3, 2017
War on the Rocks
ISIL's caliphate is crumbling. But unless the U.S.-led coalition can reduce the many possibilities that might give ISIL's down-and-out members a reason to fight on, the militants will continue to contribute to disorder in the region.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
commentary
Are Terrorists Using Cryptocurrencies?
David Manheim, Patrick B. Johnston, Joshua Baron, Cynthia Dion-Schwarz
Apr 21, 2017
Foreign Affairs
As the U.S. Treasury Department and its partners have denied terrorists access to the international financial system, new digital currencies could become an attractive alternative. They could be used for money laundering or to pay the personnel and vendors that keep the terrorist machine running.
Read More »
Counterterrorism
commentary
Crime and Terror in Europe: Where the Nexus Is Alive and Well
Colin P. Clarke @ColinPClarke
Dec 15, 2016
International Centre for Counter-Terrorism
The idea of a crime-terror nexus does appear to be a major threat in Europe, where terrorists and criminals now recruit from the same milieu. Coperation between European law enforcement and intelligence agencies is critical.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
commentary
Cutting the Islamic State's Money Supply
Eric Robinson @RobinsonEricD
Jul 21, 2016
The National Interest
Airstrikes have hit ISIL tanker trucks, oil fields, refineries, and banks, but it would be a mistake to view the group as a poor man's version of its old self. New steps are needed to counter its multi-million dollar taxation and extortion machine.
Read More »
The Islamic State (Terrorist Organization)
commentary
Islamic State May Be Down, but It's Far from Out
Colin P. Clarke @ColinPClarke, Chad C. Serena
May 23, 2016
Reuters
The Islamic State's loss of territory, money, and recruits would seem to demonstrate significant progress by the U.S.-led coalition. But if there is one accepted truism in the battle against the group, it is that its leaders intend to fight to the death to establish an Islamic caliphate.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
commentary
The Islamic State's Money Problems
Patrick B. Johnston
Mar 5, 2016
USA Today
ISIS now faces considerable money problems. But despite the success of the coalition's counter-terrorist finance measures, it's too early to dismiss ISIS financially.
Read More »
United States
blog
State of the Union 2016: Insights on Obama's Last Address
Jan 13, 2016
RAND research, analysis, and expertise provide context for many of the issues discussed in President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address, including the threat of ISIS, global climate change, and bringing peace to Syria.
Read More »
Security Cooperation
commentary
To Defeat ISIS, Focus on Its Real Sources of Strength
Benjamin Bahney, Patrick B. Johnston
Dec 4, 2015
The National Interest
The threat ISIS poses today is graver than ever for two reasons: its war chest and its ability to attract foreign recruits are both at their peak. Redoubling international efforts to cut off ISIS from these two pillars of its war machine is necessary to sap the group's strength.
Read More »
Terrorist Organizations
commentary
The Strategic Value of Terrorism
Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins
Aug 31, 2015
The Cipher Brief
While terrorists and criminals joining forces is certainly a scary thought, it's nothing new and not something that works as simply in practice as it does on a white board. Still, it's a threat worth watching.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
commentary
How Global Terror Network Will Get a Boost from Iran Nuclear Deal
Colin P. Clarke @ColinPClarke
Jul 15, 2015
FOX News Channel
Iranian sponsorship of terrorist organizations cannot be divorced from the negotiations because the sanctions that will be lifted provide new sources of funding to reinforce the Iran threat network. A global strategy to address the Iran threat network is essential to stability in the region.
Read More »
Military Strategy
commentary
The Enemy You Know and the Ally You Don't
Benjamin Bahney, Patrick B. Johnston, Patrick Ryan
Jun 23, 2015
Foreign Policy
Arming Iraq's Sunni militias to fight the Islamic State may seem like a quick fix, but newly declassified documents suggest it might only add fuel to the fire.
Read More »
Terrorism Threat Assessment
commentary
Islamic State's Global Expansion
Seth G. Jones
Jun 4, 2015
The Wall Street Journal
The radical Islamist group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, is now expanding in roughly a dozen countries across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia by exploiting local grievances, doling out money, and leveraging its battlefield successes.
Read More »
Petroleum
commentary
Oil Bonanza: Good News for the World
Charles Wolf, Jr.
Mar 31, 2015
The International Economy
World oil prices have fallen by more than 40 percent since June 2014 and over the next several years prices are more likely to fall than to rise. The global economy will benefit hugely from this shift, and it's possible that global security will also benefit from lower oil prices.
Read More »
Petroleum
commentary
The Upside of Lower Oil Prices
Charles Wolf, Jr.
Oct 17, 2014
The Weekly Standard
Movement toward sharply lower oil prices should be a prominent component of any strategy directed at disabling many of the world's most disruptive threats: Iran's nuclear development, ISIS, Hamas attacks on Israel, and Russia's threat to Ukraine.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
commentary
Hit the Islamic State's Pocketbook
Patrick B. Johnston, Benjamin Bahney
Oct 6, 2014
Newsday
The Islamic State is the world's richest terrorist group, with estimated assets of $1 billion to $2 billion. Airstrikes may disrupt the flow of oil and profits, but they won't lead to the group's financial ruin anytime soon. The Islamic State will bring in an estimated $100 million to $200 million this year.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
commentary
To Defeat the Islamic State, Follow the Money
Howard J. Shatz @HowardJShatz
Sep 10, 2014
Politico
ISIS, likely the world's richest terrorist organization, has bills to pay and mouths to feed. If U.S. President Obama wants to defeat them, he should follow the money.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
commentary
How ISIS Funds Its Reign of Terror
Howard J. Shatz @HowardJShatz
Sep 8, 2014
New York Daily News
ISIS raises much of its money just as a well-organized criminal gang would do. It smuggles, it extorts, it skims, it fences, it kidnaps and it shakes down. Although supposedly religiously inspired, its actions are more like those of an organized criminal cult.
Read More »
Terrorism Financing
commentary
Hitting ISIS Where It Hurts: Disrupt ISIS's Cash Flow in Iraq
Patrick B. Johnston, Benjamin Bahney
Aug 13, 2014
The New York Times
President Obama's decision last week to conduct airstrikes against ISIS and send humanitarian aid will help buy time for both Iraqi and Kurdish forces to regroup. But Baghdad needs a strategy that aligns the political and economic interests of all Iraqis to hit ISIS where it hurts: its war chest.
Read More »
Terrorist Organizations
commentary
When Terrorists Kill Terrorists
Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins
May 5, 2014
The Hill
Battles between rival rebel groups and within terrorist organizations are not uncommon. Terrorists may compete with each other, sometimes in deadly battles, for the control of sources of financing. Some of the internal struggles are about who will lead.
Read More »
Crime
announcement
Erik Nemeth Appears on History Channel's 'America's Book of Secrets: Lost Treasures'
Jul 15, 2013
In an episode of the History Channel's America's Book of Secrets, Erik Nemeth discusses the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist of 1990 and the broader implications of art crime for national security.
Read More »
Terrorist Organizations
commentary
Osama a Wizard of Illusion and Rhetoric
Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins
Jun 1, 2011
Providence Journal
Bin Laden was chairman of the board, not CEO, using his moral authority to urge his tiny army forward, pointing out new ways to kill Americans, encouraging followers to think outside the typical terrorist playbook, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.
Read More »
Global Security
commentary
Glimpse of bin Laden Techniques in Captured Records of al-Qa'ida in Iraq
Benjamin Bahney, Renny McPherson, Howard J. Shatz @HowardJShatz
May 26, 2011
RAND.org and GlobalSecurity.org
Captured financial documents of al-Qa'ida's Iraq affiliate in Anbar Province revealed its internal operations and enabled one of the most comprehensive assessments of an al-Qa'ida linked group, write Benjamin Bahney, Renny McPherson, and Howard J. Shatz.
Read More »
Libya
commentary
How Might bin Laden's Demise Affect Business?
Charles Wolf, Jr.
May 25, 2011
RAND.org and GlobalSecurity.org
Given how markets are responding thus far, Osama Bin Laden's death is likely to have a modestly positive and buoyant effect on equity markets, writes Charles Wolf, Jr.
Read More »