October 2002
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken deliberate action to root out terrorism and shut down its sources of financing. In recent months, the Kingdom has stepped up law enforcement and has expanded multilateral action to crack down on international finance networks that support terrorist organizations.
The “Terrorist Financing” report issued today is an opinion formulated by an independent task force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. This opinion is based on false and inconclusive information.
According to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Kingdom’s Ambassador to the United States: “Government officials who are privy to current law enforcement efforts know and appreciate the close cooperation the United States and Saudi Arabia have in the war on terrorism. The Task Force is clearly out of touch with current activities.”
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is encouraged by the efforts that have been made to combat the financing of terrorism, believing that groups posing as charities in order to support and finance terrorist acts cannot be tolerated. Since September 11, Saudi Arabia has conducted a thorough review of its charitable organizations and has taken a number of specific measures:
All charitable groups have been audited to ensure that there are no links to suspect organizations.
(WASHINGTON, DC) - Former FBI Director Louis Freeh testified Tuesday before a joint hearing of the House/Senate Select Intelligence Committees on counter-terrorism efforts and the events surrounding the terrorist attacks of September 11.
Mr. Freeh spoke about the support the FBI received from Saudi authorities in the Khobar Towers investigation, and reiterated the same points that have been made by many other law enforcement and government officials in regard to the ongoing close cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia in the war on terrorism.