Bush Failing to Block Terrorism Financing, GAO Says

By Jeff Bliss

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush's administration hasn't developed a plan to help two dozen countries with cells of Islamic radicals counter schemes for financing terrorism, according to a government report.

The Treasury and State departments are fighting over which agency is in charge of coordinating training and technical assistance for two dozen countries, according to a Government Accountability Office report. It also said the Bush administration doesn't have any reliable method for measuring the success of its efforts.

"The U.S. government lacks an integrated strategy," the report said. The administration "lacks a system for measuring performance and incorporating results into its planning efforts."

Terrorist organizations use social and religious groups to raise money for their activities, such as attracting, training and equipping new recruits, according to the State Department. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. and the United Nations have tried to cut off the terrorists' pipeline of money.

"We have dried up millions and millions of dollars in potential terrorist financing," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington earlier today. "Of course we're going to take a look at how we might do better."

Treasury Department spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said the U.S. and its allies had been successful in their initial efforts to break up terrorist-financing networks.

"Analyses like the GAO report can provide useful insight and suggestions for improving coordination with our partner agencies," she said.

Agency Rivalry

The Treasury Department doesn't agree that the State Department is supposed to lead an interagency group on training and assistance to countries, according to the report.

The GAO report said an unnamed Treasury official has said the effort "is broken and State creates obstacles rather than coordinates efforts."

In the report, State Department officials blamed the Treasury Department for not accepting its authority.

The GAO issued another report today criticizing the administration's initiative to use air marshals to stop hijackings. The Homeland Security Department hasn't developed procedures instructing air marshals on what to do when they encounter problems. ``We concur with the conclusions in the report and we concur with the recommendations,'' said Dave Adams, a spokesman for the Reston, Virginia-based Federal Air Marshal Service.

The service last month instituted a program to make it easier for marshals to report criminal and non-criminal incidents, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Jeff Bliss in Washington at jbliss@bloomberg.net.

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