National Security Law & Intelligence Policy

“To Our Great Detriment”
Ignoring What Extremists Say About Jihad
by Stephen C. Coughlin, Esq.

Published on July 2nd, 2007
In comments made at the National Defense University on 1 December 2005, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace explained to his audience the importance of “understand[ing] the nature of the enemy” if we hope to defeat jihadi extremists.  Comparing our situation today, with that faced by an earlier generation who had to deal with the reality of the Nazi threat, General Pace suggested a simple solution to complying with his injunction:  “read what our enemies have said.  Remember Hitler….  He said in writing exactly what his plan was that we collectively ignored to our great detriment (emphasis added).”  Just as we ignored Hitler’s articulation of his strategic doctrine in Mein Kampf, so too are we on the verge of suffering a similar fate today, if we fail to seriously assess the extremist threat based on jihadi strategic doctrine.

Bank Liability Under the Anti-Terrorism Act
Dispelling the “Routine Banking Services” Defense in Material Support Cases
by Stephen I. Landman

Published on February 2nd, 2008
Historically, the responsibility for punishing individuals and entities that aided terrorists has fallen to the government.  President Bush picked up where previous administrations had left off and implemented an “unprecedented international campaign to deter and dismantle the sources of terrorist financing.”  Since that time, both the executive and legislative branches have publicly directed law enforcement officials to remain pro-active in pursuing terrorists and their private supporters. As a result of this focus, government prosecutors have announced “substantial progress not only in disrupting the activities of potential terrorists and their supporters but closing off whole avenues that terrorists have used to sustain themselves in the United States.”  Despite these achievements, impediments to destroying the terrorist’s financial infrastructure still remain.  The war on terrorist finances is virtually without borders, and must be fought accordingly. The United States has devoted tremendous federal resources to shutting down the financiers of terrorist groups and has been largely successful.  Private citizens victimized by acts of terrorism believe that more can still be done. They have taken up arms against this support structure, focusing their attention on the one industry that is vital to terrorist organizations—financial institutions.

Money Laundering and Bulk Cash Smuggling: Challenges for the Mérida Initiative
Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation
by Douglas Farah

Published on November 30th, 2010
It is widely accepted that cutting off the flow of money from the sale of cocaine in the United States to the Mexican drug trafficking organizations is one of the most efficient ways to decrease the power of the cartels. Without the cash influx there would be less money for corruption and the purchase of weapons, and cash seizures directly take away what the drug traffickers want most -- profits from their illicit activities. On both sides of the border the smuggling of bulk cash and money laundering tied to the billions of dollars in profits is not just viewed as a problem for Mexico, but as a significant security threat to the United States.

The Broken System for Reviewing Foreign Investment in Our Vital Infrastructure
by R.K. Joyad

Published on February 24th, 2006
Whatever one thinks about the decision to allow the transfer of operational authority over several American shipping ports to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates, one has to acknowledge that the process is in serious need of fixing. We now know that neither President Bush nor his senior national security advisors - including Donald Rumsfeld - had been notified of the deal until after it had already been formally approved by the US government, by which time hell had broken lose. How is this possible?

Taxing Terrorism from Al Capone to Al Qaida
Fighting Violence Through Financial Regulation
by Jeffrey Breinholt

Published on August 1st, 2005
This book by the Deputy Chief of the Justice Department's Counterterrorism Section aims to give readers an understanding of a largely overlooked aspect of U.S. federal criminal law enforcement. It is also designed to foster an appreciation for an under-rated skill: telling a story with documents. These issues are vitally important to national security, and to the current challenge of keeping innocent people safe from political violence. In the war on terror, we cannot ignore financial investigative techniques and the value of documentary storytelling.

How About a Little Perspective: The USA PATRIOT Act and the Uses and Abuses of History
Texas Review of Law & Politics (Vol. 9, No. 1)
by Jeffrey Breinholt

Published on April 1st, 2004
Following the senseless killing of innocent Americans in politically-inspired attacks with the threat of more to come, U.S. prosecutors and agents are directed to use their skills to prevent terrorism before it occurs. The resulting disruption efforts—a product of creative thinking by government personnel of varied backgrounds and talents—are multi-faceted and are driven by such time-tested investigative techniques as electronic surveillance and the use of undercover informants. The efforts include the prosecution of non-terrorists, including the legal representatives of radical individuals and groups, who themselves cross the line into illegal activity, as well as the conscious prosecutorial decision to aggressively charge terrorists with non-terrorism crimes. Persons and groups targeted by these law-enforcement actions and their supporters cry foul and complain that the government’s actions go too far, raising the specter of a police state infringing on the constitutional protections to freely express themselves and to associate with whomever they choose. They point to the police abuses of the past, arguing that American law-enforcement cannot be trusted to learn the lessons of history. Unless the body politic rises up in protest, they argue, Americans are doomed to repeat the mistakes of an earlier era.