The Trump administration announced an expanded effort to disrupt the financing of organisations it accuses of supporting political terrorism, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying the United States would intensify scrutiny of charities, non-profit organisations and international financial networks used to channel illicit funds.
Bessent, addressing the State Department’s Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism, said terrorist organisations increasingly exploit legitimate financial institutions and charitable structures to conceal funding and sustain operations across borders.
“At President Trump’s direction, the United States Treasury is bringing the full weight of our authorities to defend the integrity of the US global financial systems,” Bessent said.
He said the Treasury Department was broadening the mission of its Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, originally established after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to address what he described as evolving forms of organised political terrorism.
“The resurgence of organised political terrorism has long occupied a blind spot,” Bessent said. “The international community has struggled to identify this danger, much less defeat it. But as the threat of terrorism evolves, the institutional tools that defend against it must adapt.”
According to Bessent, terrorist networks increasingly rely on international financial systems, cross-border fundraising and organisations operating under charitable or non-profit status.
“Violence requires money, channels through which funding can move and institutions behind which it can hide,” he said. “Increasingly legitimate nonprofit and charitable structures are being exploited as a mechanism to conceal the movement of illicit funds to support political terrorism.”
He said the Treasury Department would examine whether tax-exempt organisations had been used to facilitate illicit financial activity and pledged action where evidence justified it.
“We are examining where tax-exempt status has been exploited, where charitable entities have become financial conduits for foreign influence activity, and how those entrusted with stewardship of these organisations have instead enabled violence,” Bessent said. “Where the evidence leads, we will not hesitate to follow.”
Bessent said the administration had already designated four far-left extremist organisations abroad as foreign terrorist organisations, while the Treasury had sanctioned 17 organisations that it described as sham charities accused of financing Hamas activities.
He said financial institutions also had a responsibility to strengthen oversight.
“Just as financial institutions must know their clients, they must know their grantees,” he said.
While outlining the administration’s approach, Bessent stressed that enforcement actions would remain subject to US law.
“To be clear, in the fight against domestic terrorism, we must respect the constitutional rights, freedom of speech, association and assembly of all Americans,” he said. “Treasury will act based on suspected unlawful conduct by these terror organisations, not because of their beliefs or ideologies.”
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), of which both India and the United States are members, has made combating terrorist financing a central priority. Washington has frequently used sanctions, asset freezes and financial intelligence tools against organisations accused of supporting terrorism, while encouraging greater international coordination to prevent the misuse of global financial systems.
