Gulf Donors Remain Important Source of Terrorist Financing: US Treasury

A United States Treasury official on Thursday said donors located in the Gulf remain an important source of revenue for Al Qaeda.

A United States Treasury official on Thursday said donors located in the Gulf remain an important source of revenue for Al Qaeda.

"Donors located in the Gulf have traditionally been an important source of revenue for AQ. This remains the case, but we are making strides in cutting off their financial networks," Daniel Glaser, assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the US Department of Treasury, said at a hearing.

He said the Gulf countries have taken a wide range of actions, and called Saudi Arabia a "regional leader" in combating terrorist financing, amid suspicions in Congress the kingdom is not doing enough to choke off support for terrorists.

"All Gulf countries have now passed counter-terrorism laws that criminalize terrorist financing, and have enhanced financial controls across the charitable sector to ensure that funds intended for humanitarian objectives do not benefit terrorist activity," he said.

"In particular, Saudi Arabia has emerged as a regional leader within the Gulf and has joined us in a targeted designations," he said.

Still, Glaser said despite progress, there is "more work to be done" to ensure the entire Gulf financial system is a hostile environment to Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, particularly to Nusrah Front -- Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria.

Criticism of Saudi Arabia has mounted in recent weeks on Capitol Hill, after one of the authors of a congressionally-commissioned report on the 9/11 terrorist attacks called for the declassification of 28 pages he says show that the kingdom was involved.



