20 June 2004

U.S. Working With Saudis to End Terrorist Financing, Snow Says

Treasury secretary discusses terrorist financing, outsourcing

By Todd Bullock
Washington File Staff Writer

The United States is working closely with Saudi Arabia to end the flow of financing to terrorist organizations like al Qaeda, according to Treasury Secretary John Snow.

"Over the course of the last year, Saudi Arabia has taken a number of really important steps. I am convinced they are sincere and deeply committed about this effort," Snow said in an interview June 20 with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

The Treasury secretary noted that the Saudi government has changed the way its charities operate so that cash transactions cannot flow through charities to terrorist groups.

When asked if there was more that Saudi Arabia could do to end the flow of terrorist financing, Snow responded, "They need to strengthen their law enforcement efforts and their efforts to investigate terrorist flows and interdict them."

Snow also told Blitzer that the United States has a team of enforcement personnel in Riyadh working closely with Saudi authorities to penetrate any networks that might be the source of terrorist financing.

"They are very serious and committed in trying to wipe out the flow of terrorist monies and monies going to al Qaeda," Snow said.

When asked about the effect of outsourcing (U.S. companies moving jobs abroad) on the U.S. economy, Snow said, "We are five percent of the world's population, which means that 95 percent of our customers lie outside the U.S. The last thing we can do is to turn our back on the rest of the world, and the last thing we should do is to do anything that smacks of economic isolationism."

Secretary Snow also discussed the U.S. domestic economy with Blitzer.