Rachel Ehrenfeldt and John Wood

Migrant workers, terrorists, criminals, and anyone holding a mobile telephone are rejoicing. Already many are able to transfer money (m-payments) anywhere anytime, efficiently and inexpensively. Technological advances and cooperation between international mobile communications providers and major international financial institutions, made such transfers possible. According to Visa USA CEO John Philip Coghlan, “ The convergence of payments and mobile communications is not just logical, it’s inevitable.”

An m-payment system is being developed by members of the GSM Association and Mastercard to enable 200 million international migrant workers and the poor who do not have bank accounts to transfer money domestically and internationally. According to the World Bank, 175 million migrants transferred at least $230 billion in international remittances in 2005. A recent U.N. sponsored South African study found that m-banking can be up to a third cheaper for customers than the current banking alternatives. However, focusing on populations in Less Developed Countries lacking functioning anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulatory framework, where corruption is rife, is likely to make terrorist financing much easier.

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Finally, since both terrorism and m-payments are global in scope, the m-payment service provider, as others monitoring terror financing, should have access to a real-time integrated, closely monitored list of all individuals, organizations, businesses and countries suspected of links to terrorists. However, in January 2007, the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) reported to Congress that while “the reporting of cross-border wire transfer data by financial institutions is technically feasible,” law enforcement needs another year to asses whether it would be “valuable to the government’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.”

The need for swift business transactions and effective cut off of funds for terror demand such international cooperation now.

Read the whole thing and weep.

Just one more reason why the traitors who exposed both our microwave monitoring surveillance and our financial surveillance programs should be prosecuted and heavily punished.  They should be held responsible for the terrorist acts they enabled through access to financing.  We need more surveillance, not less, at least until the terrorists are neutralized completely.  Anything else is insanity.