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U.S. Mulling Expanded Use of Threat Finance Cells, Say Sources
By Colby Adams and Brian Monroe
printU.S. officials are weighing whether to expand the use of specialized financial analysis units beyond America's theaters of war as part of an effort to fight transnational crime groups, governmental sources say. Since 2005, the United States has imbedded so-called threat finance cells (TFCs) abroad to disrupt the financial networks of enemy combatants and related drug traffickers. The units, used in Iraq and Afghanistan, have been staffed by personnel from the U.S. Defense, Treasury and Justice Departments. The successes of the TFCs, which rely largely on surveillance and human intelligence, have prompted U.S. officials to consider deploying a threat finance...
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