Nonprofit Organizations and Counterterrorism Measures

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Side-by-Side Comparison of 2005 and 2006 Treasury Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines

On Sept. 29, 2006 the U.S. Department of the Treasury released the third version since 2002 of its Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines: Voluntary Best Practices for U.S.-Based Charities. The new Guidelines come after Treasury requested public comments on the Dec. 2005 revision of the original Guidelines. See our comparison chart in pdf format.

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Treasury Releases Third Version of Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines

On Sept. 29, 2006 the U.S. Department of the Treasury released the third version since 2002 of its Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines: Voluntary Best Practices for U.S.-Based Charities. The new Guidelines come after Treasury requested public comments on the Dec. 2005 revision of the original Guidelines. In an annex to the latest version, Treasury provides an unconvincing explanation of its perception that abuse of charities by terrorists is a substantial problem. Treasury also uses the latest version to place greater emphasis on the voluntary nature of the guidelines.

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Analysis: 2006 Treasury Dept. Voluntary Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines

On Sept. 29, 2006 the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) released updated Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines: Voluntary Best Practices for U.S.-Based Charities, its third version of recommendations for charities since 2002. The new Guidelines reflect Treasury consideration of public comments on a December 2005 revision of the original Guidelines, published in 2002. A new Annex provides an unconvincing explanation of Treasury's perception that terrorist abuse of charities is a substantial problem.

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Independent Sector Says Treasury Misquotes Panel on Nonprofit Sector in Latest Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines

Oct 4, 2006 by Kay Guinane

A story about the latest version of Treasury's Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines in the Oct. 4 edition of BNA Daily Report for Executives (subscription required) notes that, while practitioners are pleased Treasury dropped language that implies charities are arms of the U.S. government, problems remain.

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Treasury Revises Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines

Sep 29, 2006 by Kay Guinane

On Sept. 29, 2006 the Treasury Department released its third version of Voluntary Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines, along with a response to public comments made on the second version, which was released in Dec. 2005. The Treasury press release refers to dialog with the nonprofit sector, but does not note that nonprofits have called for withdrawal of the guidelines as ineffective and ill-advised. OMB Watch will have a summary and analysis of the revisions posted on Oct. 2. Here are links to the new Treasury documents:

Revised Guidelines

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Treasury Says Revised Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines to be Released Soon

Sep 28, 2006 by Kay Guinane

Speaking at the Council on Foundations’ (COF) International Committee on Oct. 25, 2006 Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing Patrick O’Brien said the third version of Treasury's Voluntary Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines would likely come out the next day. To date they have not been released. In May a Treasury spokesperson also indicated that changes would be coming soon, and gave a summary of likely changes.

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Terrorism Task Force Raids Muslim Charity, Making Ramadan Giving Problematic

On Sept.18, federal agents raided the office of a Michigan-based Muslim charity. Agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) seized files, cabinets, computers, and copied documents from the headquarters of Life for Relief and Development, a humanitarian relief organization. The group, founded in 1992, has been active in sending aid to Iraq, Jordan, Pakistan, Dubai, Syria, Sierra Leone, and Israel and is one of the largest American Muslim aid groups.

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Treasury Guidelines Slowing Down Humanitarian Aid to Lebanon

Sep 6, 2006 by Kay Guinane

A recent Chicago Tribune story Charity strives to keep 'clean'" describes how aid organizations face barriers delivering aid in Lebanon because Hezbollah, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. Treasury Dept., is part of local government and aid delivery network. Every U.S. aid agency is facing the exact same problem," said a spokesman for a West Coast aid agency operating in Lebanon, who asked not to be named because the subject is "super, super, super sensitive." "We're waiting on word from the Treasury on that. We're waiting on some sort of guidance."

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NYT Articles on Suspected Foreign Charities in London Terrorist Plot

Aug 28, 2006 by Kay Guinane

More articles about the possible role of British and Pakistani charities in the recent London terrorist plot can be found at

Airplane Terrorism Case Prompts Quesitons About the Work of Islamic Charities New York Times Aug. 24, 2006
British Study Charitable Organization for Links to Plot New York Times Aug. 25, 2006

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New York Times Reports U.S. Policies Impair Aid Delivery in Lebanon

Aug 23, 2006 by Kay Guinane

From the New York Times When Mercy Corps and other Western aid agencies reached this devastated village on the front line of the battle between Israel and Hezbollah with food and medicine, they quickly discovered they had a big problem: the United States.

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