Security costs

Reporting by Timon Molloy.

“Money is the life-blood of terrorism.” Dennis Lormel, who set up the FBI Terrorist Finance Operations Section after the September 11, 2001 attacks, coined the phrase, which underpins the extension of suspicious activity reporting in the US to cover facilitation of attacks and assistance for extremists. But is he right? There’s no evidence to support that statement, said Michael German, also formerly a Special Agent with the FBI for 16 years, who worked on domestic terrorism.