London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 04, 2025

Fall of Afghanistan Finds FBI Without Terrorist Financing Section

Fall of Afghanistan Finds FBI Without Terrorist Financing Section

The loss of Afghanistan has potentially opened a door for al-Qaida and other blacklisted groups to expand their fundraising networks, and brought the FBI’s closure of its Terrorist Financing Operations Section two years ago into stark relief, sources told ACAMS moneylaundering.com.

In early 2019, the FBI quietly folded TFOS, an independent section formed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks to track the finances of terrorist groups and their supporters, into other sections of the bureau’s counterterrorism division as part of a broader, internal reorganization and shift in investigative priorities.

Compliance officers, former TFOS officials and other individuals familiar with the matter said that closing the section and reassigning its personnel risked depriving the federal government of critical financial intelligence, and severing relationships with well-placed contacts in U.S. and global financial institutions.

Several other individuals described the decision as a simple administrative shift that neither frayed the FBI’s ties to the banking industry nor diminished the bureau’s ability to pinpoint remittances, wires and other transfers of funds to terrorist groups.

The FBI did not publicly announce the restructuring, and compliance officers who worked regularly with TFOS told moneylaundering.com that they received only brief and informal notice of the closure, if any notice at all.

Most sources spoke to moneylaundering.com on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on the reshuffle or the internal deliberations that preceded it.

Jeff Ross, a former senior official with the Treasury and Justice departments, said the demise of TFOS began years ago and involved the FBI’s counterterrorism division—and the larger national security branch that oversees it—increasingly chipping away at the section’s independence and resources.

“TFOS was extraordinarily effective at the start in feeding financial intelligence and analysis to field offices,” said Ross, who regularly dealt with the section during his career in government. “It could do anything it wanted. After you’ve diluted it, marginalized it down from a section, who’s going to do that work?”

‘Speak the language’


TFOS achieved notable success during its 17 years, but the concept of a standalone, dedicated counterterrorist-financing unit rose from a failure: namely, the U.S. government’s to synthesize key financial, travel and logistical details on the 19 al-Qaida hijackers and their handlers into a larger, more comprehensive picture in time to stop them.

A predecessor, the Financial Review Group, or FRG, was formed days after the attacks “to bring order to a chaotic financial analysis in which,” according to the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, “every FBI field office conducted its own investigation as though it were the originating office.”

By April 2002 the group had evolved into TFOS, whose existence signified a strategic shift by the FBI: instead of limiting financial investigations to the pursuit of white-collar criminals, the bureau would task its new, standalone section with overseeing all federal probes into how terrorists raise, move and spend funds.

From the beginning, the new section bore something of a unique profile.

Unlike most sections at the FBI’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., TFOS had an operational mission to conduct investigations independent of the bureau’s 56 field offices, in addition to supplying training, expertise and technical assistance to them.

TFOS also coordinated investigations with U.S. intelligence agencies, regulators and foreign counterterrorism personnel, but the section’s largest returns came from years of building relationships with compliance professionals at large U.S. banks and other institutions, whom investigators could call on at all hours for help in an ongoing case.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Queen Camilla’s Teenage Courage: Fended Off Attempted Assault on London Train, New Biography Reveals
Scottish Brothers Set Record in Historic Pacific Row
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
Pickles are the latest craze among Generation Z in the United States.
Deadline Day Delivers Record £125m Isak Move and Donnarumma to City
Nestlé Removes CEO Laurent Freixe Following Undisclosed Relationship with Subordinate
Giuliani Seriously Injured in Accident – Trump to Award Him the Presidential Medal of Freedom
EU is getting aggressive: Four AfD Candidates Die Unexpectedly Ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia Local Elections
Lula and Putin Hold Strategic BRICS Discussions Ahead of Trump–Putin Summit
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
×