Funding Terror: An Overview of Financing Methods

Terrorism in the Middle East has plagued the United States for over a decade and groups, like ISIS, show that terrorism can be well organized and financed. From a homemade bomb to a small army, each act of terrorism requires funding to turn hateful speech into an action. In the Middle East, funding for terrorism falls into three major categories: criminal, legal, and charity from like-minded individuals. Despite public disdain for global terror there are still some individuals, both foreign and domestic, who seek to fund terrorist attacks. Finding the sources of this funding is essential in order to stem terrorism, but doing so is not always easy. Those who fund terror do so through many mediums such as: black markets, offshore accounts, phony companies, and illegal shipments; which can make it very hard to track. By looking at past investigations on terrorism in the Middle East to see what patterns emerge, investigators can be pointed towards places where they can most effectively use their resources to stop future terrorist funding