It is an axiom within the U.S. law enforcement and intelligence communities that "following the money" is the key to disrupting and dismantling criminal organizations. The same is true when it comes to terrorist networks. Officials in the United States and abroad now realize that fighting terrorism financing (and its corollary, money laundering) is one of the best ways to prevent future catastrophic attacks. As a new generation of public servants learns the ropes and begins to contribute to the war on terror, the proven tactic of following money trails will become more central than ever. At the same time, this task is becoming increasingly complex due to our adversaries' skill in avoiding traditional financial countermeasures. Law enforcement and intelligence officials must learn to understand the sometimes obscure methodologies that terrorist organizations use to raise, move, and store money-whether these activities stem from the Usama bin Ladens of the world, rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea, or members of Hizbollah, Hamas, or a host of other like-minded organizations.

A noted expert on terrorism uncovers the clandestine and sinister ways that Islamic terrorist groups finance their global network. Dr. Ehrenfeld's investigation also details how undected billions of dollars are spent to bring about chaos and destabilization.

The May 2021 conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas generated headlines around the world. However, much of the reporting ignored the history, funding, political dynamics, and other key components of the story. Hamas initiates conflict every few years. But the reporting rarely improves. Social media has only further clouded the picture. Hamas is rarely held responsible for its use of "human shields," blindly firing rockets at civilian areas in Israel, or diverting aid that should benefit the people of Gaza. The Islamic Republic of Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism, has been the primary patron of Hamas since the group's inception in the late 1980s. Hamas has received additional assistance over the years from Qatar, Turkey and Malaysia. These countries are fomenting conflict, while others, such as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, have tried to minimize it. Gaza is therefore ground zero in a struggle for the future stability of the Middle East. The Biden administration has important choices to make. Its intent to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal could have significant consequences, given that sanctions relief to Iran will likely yield a financial boon for Hamas, along with other Iranian proxies. The Biden administration must also come to terms with "The Squad," a small but loud faction of the Democratic Party that seeks to undermine the US-Israel relationship.

Wittig presents the first unified coherent framework for the systematic analysis of terrorist finance. With empirical examples from around the globe, he dispels several popular myths about these activities to make an important step forward in our understanding of not only terrorist finance, but also the place of terrorism in the contemporary world.

Economist and best-selling author Loretta Napoleoni traces the link between the finances of the war on terror and the global economic crisis, finding connections from Dubai to London to Las Vegas that politicians and the media have at best ignored. In launching military and propaganda wars in the Middle East, America overlooked the war of economic independence waged by Al-Qaeda. The Patriot Act boosted the black market economy, and the war on terror prompted a rise in oil prices that led to food riots and distracted governments from the trillion-dollar machinations of Wall Street. Consumers and taxpayers, spurred by propaganda fears, were lured into crushing global debt. Napoleoni shows that if we do not face up to the many serious connections between our response to 9/11 and the financial crisis, we will never work our way out of the looming global recession that now threatens our way of life. While we feared that Al-Qaeda might destroy our world, Wall Street ripped it apart.

This book takes a broadly comparative approach to analyzing how the financing of global jihadi terrorist groups has evolved in response to government policies since September 11, 2001.