The U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued the 2024 National Strategy for Combatting Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing (2024 Strategy), a comprehensive plan outlining the government’s goals, objectives, and priorities to disrupt and prevent illicit financial activities. The strategy addresses key risks identified in the 2024 National Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Proliferation Financing Risk Assessments (2024 National Risk Assessments) and lays out how the United States plans to build on recent efforts to modernize its anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime.
“In this critical moment for our national and economic security, we need to continue to close the pathways that illicit actors seek to exploit for their schemes,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “We recognize the threat illicit financial activity represents to our national security, economic prosperity, and our democratic values, and are focused on addressing both the challenges of today and emerging concerns.”
The 2024 Strategy identifies key threats related to large-scale fraud schemes, ransomware attacks, an opioid-driven overdose epidemic, foreign and domestic terrorist attacks, corruption, and illicit exploitation of technological advances in payments and financial products and services. It also addresses how threats such as Hamas’ financing of terrorist attacks on Israel or Russia’s financing of its invasion of Ukraine can exploit vulnerabilities in the U.S. and global financial system.
The strategy outlines four priority recommendations: closing legal and regulatory gaps exploited by illicit actors; promoting a more effective AML/CFT regulatory framework; enhancing operational effectiveness in combating illicit finance; realizing benefits from responsible technological innovation.
The 2024 Strategy was prepared by Treasury’s Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes in consultation with other departments within the Treasury Department as well as other federal agencies involved in combating illicit finance.
