OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR SUSAN M. COLLINS
CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
TERRORISM FINANCING: ORIGINATION, ORGANIZATION, AND PREVENTION
JULY 31, 2003
Today, the Committee on Governmental Affairs is holding a
hearing on the financing of terrorism. Terrorism costs money.
From funds needed to buy explosives and plane tickets, to
living expenses, to pay-offs to families of suicide bombers,
terrorists must have constant and untraceable sources of money.
Stopping the flow of these funds is a formidable task. Osama
bin Laden is an experienced financier who has reportedly boasted
that he and other Al Qaeda leaders know the cracks in the
Western financial system like the lines on their own hands.
Immediately after the September 11 attacks, the President
took strong action to close the gaps in our financial system
by issuing Executive Order 13224 to block terrorist funds.
Nevertheless, serious questions remain about whether we are
doing enough. There are even more serious questions about
whether some of our allies are doing enough.
Last year, the Council on Foreign Relations issued a report
contending that U.S. efforts to curtail terrorism financing
are impeded, and I quote, not only by a lack of institutional
capacity abroad, but by a lack of political will among U.S.
allies. The report concludes that our government appears
to have responded to this lack of will with a policy decision
not to use the full power of our influence and legal authority
to compel greater cooperation.
A key nation in the fight against terrorist financing is
Saudi Arabia. It appears that the Joint Inquiry by the House
and Senate intelligence committees examined the Kingdoms
role in terrorist financing, but its difficult to tell
for certain, as almost the entire chapter regarding foreign
support for the September 11th hijackers is classified. Even
the parts that were published, however, raise serious concerns
about Saudi Arabias role in the September 11th attacks.
For example, the unclassified portion of the Joint Inquiry
report describes the activities of Omar al-Bayoumi, a man
who apparently provided extensive assistance to two of the
September 11th hijackers. According to the report, a source
told the FBI that he thought al-Bayoumi must have been an
intelligence officer for Saudi Arabia or another foreign power.
The report also finds that al-Bayoumi had access to seemingly
unlimited funding from Saudi Arabia. Mr. al-Bayoumi
is now reported to be living in Saudi Arabia.
Last month, the General Counsel of the Treasury Department
testified before the Terrorism Subcommittee of the Judiciary
Committee, that in many cases, Saudi Arabia is the epicenter
of terrorist financing. The Council on Foreign Relations report
found that, for years, individuals and charities based in
Saudi Arabia have been the most important source of
funds for Al Qaeda; and for years, Saudi officials have turned
a blind eye to the problem. As our witnesses Ambassador
Dore Gold and Steven Emerson will describe in detail, there
is evidence that enormous sums of money flow from Saudi individuals
and organizations to Al Qaeda, Hamas, and other terrorist
organizations.
The key question now is whether the Saudi government is doing
enough to stop the flow of this money, and if not, what actions
the U.S. government should take to prompt the Saudis to take
effective action. The Saudi government recently announced
some changes to its banking system and charity laws, but it
is not clear that these changes go far enough.
We are fortunate to have with us today key counterterrorism
officials from the FBI and Department of Treasury. They will
describe the Administrations actions against terrorism
financing, and they will discuss the level of cooperation
our country is receiving from the Saudi government. We also
have three experts to discuss their views regarding the fight
against terrorist financing generally, and Saudi Arabias
role specifically.
As the discussion of the Joint Inquirys report has
made clear, there are still many questions about Saudi Arabias
role, even if inadvertent, in the September 11th attacks,
and about the extent of the Saudi governments cooperation
in the fight against terrorism. I hope todays hearing
can help answer some of these questions and highlight some
of the areas where our government needs to focus its efforts
in order to stop the flow of funds to terrorists.
I am pleased today to pass the gavel to Senator Specter,
who spearheaded this hearing and is one of the Senates
leaders in the war against terrorism. He has served as Chairman
of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he chaired a hearing
about this subject last November in the Judiciary Committee,
and he has continued to investigate this matter as a member
of the Judiciary and Governmental Affairs Committees. The
hearing today is particularly timely, given the release last
week of the Joint Inquiry report on the September 11 attacks.
I applaud Senator Specter for his efforts, and am pleased
to work with him on a subject that has such a profound impact
on the safety of our country and all law-abiding nations.
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