By Christine June
Public Affairs Office
George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (March 17, 2016) – Dr. Colin P. Clarke is an associate political scientist at the RAND Corporation, talks about Counter Terrorist Financing March 17 during the Program in Terrorism and Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

“The cost of individual terrorist attacks varies enormously,” said Clarke, whose research focuses on insurgency/counterinsurgency, unconventional/irregular/asymmetric warfare (including cyber) and a range of other national and international security issues and challenges, “but all terrorist groups need money.”

He added that the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. are estimated to have cost up to $500,000, but even simple operations require surveillance, reconnaissance, rehearsals, and weapons or explosives.

“A terrorist group, like any criminal organization, builds and maintains an infrastructure to exploit sources of funding and channel those funds to providers of materials and services,” Clarke said.

Clarke explained that this can involve money laundering, often through the use of informal money-transfer brokers known in many countries as hawaladors.

“Trade is also used to launder money. A basic technique is to use false invoices, slipping money into a country by under-valuing imports or over-valuing exports and doing the reverse to get the money out,” he said. “Terrorists have certainly been able to exploit laws on confidentiality, advances in technology, and the process of globalization in order to enable the easy transfer of money around the world.”

On completion of this unit, participants learned:

• Identify the main sources of terrorist funding.
• Describe the main methods used to counter terrorist financing and their limitations.

His research focuses on insurgency/counterinsurgency, unconventional/irregular/asymmetric warfare (including cyber) and a range of other national and international security issues and challenges.

Seventy-six participants from 46 countries started PTSS 16-06 Feb. 24 and will graduate March 23.

PTSS 16-06 will mark more than 1,500 graduates from PTSS, which began at the Marshall Center in 2004.

Held twice a year, PTSS is a functionally focused program that draws in civilian, law enforcement, and military counterterrorism professionals from around the world and improves their capacity to counter terrorism's regional and transnational implications.

It aims to combat terrorism in all of its manifestations: nationally, regionally and globally.

The four-week course is designed for government officials, military officers and police administrators currently working in mid- and upper- level management positions of counterterrorism organizations throughout the world.

The curriculum consists of lectures, seminars, Munich Field Study Trip and case studies.

It is designed to highlight four objectives: Understand the Threat; Build Capacity; Build Network; and, Enable Transnational Cooperation