Who were some of the other financial winners and losers in a 20-year war on terror with no end in sight?
Simple transactions like opening a bank account, wiring funds, and carrying cash on your person turned far more complex following 9/11. Much of this stems from the Congressional passage of the Patriot Act six weeks after 9/11. It was the first step of a broad crackdown on the financial chicanery and money-laundering schemes the 9/11 terrorists employed to keep a low profile. The Patriot Act also granted vast new powers to intelligence agencies and law enforcement officials so they could work in tandem to hunt for suspected terrorists.
How well has it worked? Who were some of the other financial winners and losers in a 20-year war on terror with no end in sight?
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, tracked the effectiveness of the Patriot Act and found that in its first ten years, authorities foiled 39 major terrorist plots. That includes two separate cases in 2009 and 2011, when the New York Police Department arrested a total of six terrorists plotting to attack Jewish institutions, including a duo who purchased a hand grenade to toss into a Manhattan synagogue.
Not all of the 39 plots were thwarted exclusively through the provisions of the Patriot Act, but the Heritage Foundation noted the act “equipped law enforcement officials with more tools to track down leads… as well as changes in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act laws that assist in investigations and prosecutions of terrorist activity.”
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