Forensics Journal - Stevenson University 2013 | Page 45

STEVENSON UNIVERSITY

The expansion of Joint Terrorist Task Forces (JTTFs) has been an
essential component of the prevention and detection of terrorist activity. Now four times larger than its pre-9/11 size, JTTFs around the
nation consist of, “small cells of highly trained, locally based, passionately committed investigators, analysts, linguists, SWAT experts, and
other specialists from dozens of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence
agencies” (“Protecting America”). Led by the FBI, JTTFs consist
of members from, “over 600 state and local agencies and 50 federal
agencies” (“Protecting America”). The accomplishments of the JTTFs
in identifying and preventing terrorist activity exemplify the necessity
of cooperation among today’s law enforcement officers. While the
FBI and other law enforcement agencies investigate identity thefts
within complex financial schemes, their limited resources and heavy
caseloads indicate that ancillary crimes such as identity theft must be
more critically addressed by local law enforcement, the private sector,
and individual citizens to adequately divide and share the responsibility of prevention and detection.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
At the international level, various memoranda, treaties, and task forces
exist which provide suggestions or mandates to countries on how to
handle terrorist financing. The United Nations’ Counter-Terrorism
Implementation Task Force (CTITF) makes recommendations and
establishes standards for states to follow in order to minimize money
laundering and terrorist financing (United Nations). The CTITF
works closely with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which
is, “an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development
and promotion of policies, both at national and international levels,
to combat money laundering and terrorist financing” (“About the
FATF”). The FATF releases recommendations and helps member
countries implement the strategies (“About the FATF”). INTERPOL
is the world’s largest police organization which shares information,
provides investigative tools, and improves communications for criminal cases and investigations around the world (“Overview”). The
links between the international efforts and national or local efforts to
combat terrorist financing must be improved and cooperation among
countries in these capacities is crucial for successful mitigation of
the terrorist threat. Each country’s efforts in mitigation and research
alone will not be enough to prevent terrorism and it is imperative that
international agencies capitalize on members’ intelligence, experience,
and successful tactics to collectively counter the threat.

The limited funding and resources available to federal and state
law enforcement agencies illustrates the importance of partnerships
between law enforcement and the private sector. The FBI’s InfraGard
program has been successful at bringing the two together. InfraGard
links professionals with local FBI field offices and provides an environment for dialogue regarding threats, alerts, and asset protection in
addition to providing training sessions on cybercrime and counterterrorism (“About InfraGard”). Strengthening the exchange of information and ideas among policy makers, law enfor