CNBC News with Brian Williams - Transcript

CNBC News Transcripts

SHOW: The News with Brian Williams

HEADLINE: Senator Dick Durbin discusses stopping money that funds terrorism

ANCHORS: TOM COSTELLO

BODY:
TOM COSTELLO, anchor:

Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin requested the GAO report on terror money, along with Republican Senator Grassley of Ohio. Senator Durbin is a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence. And he joins us from Springfield, Illinois.

Senator, we focused in the report to a great extent on Dubai. But, in fact, this report suggests that terror money is a worldwide phenomenon. What did you learn?

Senator DICK DURBIN (Democrat, Intelligence Committee): I think to summarize it, the GAO told us that when we've been looking for the sources of financing for terrorism, we've rounded up the usual suspects, but that's not good enough. We can't really look to international transactions and the banking accounts and expect that we've satisfied the search that should be under way to find out what's financing terrorism. It turns out some of the most basic forms of criminal activity are sources of financing, and we're not looking hard enough.

COSTELLO: And does the federal government, at this point, have a clear picture on how wide of a problem this is?

Sen. DURBIN: I'm afraid the GAO report is not encouraging. You know, it's hard to imagine, but we're still two years or more after September 11th struggling to find levels of cooperation between our federal agencies. And we have to have a transfer of information and data so that we can do a little better job investigating. And the GAO makes that clear.

COSTELLO: And, in fact, why is it so difficult for the FBI and the CIA and Treasury and others to get a good handle on what's happening?

Sen. DURBIN: I wish I could explain it. It's decades of bureaucracy, walls that have been created that need to be broken down. I think frankly it has to start with the top, the White House, the National Security Council, right on through the Congress and its investigative capacity. There have been pro-there's been progress made. I have to acknowledge that, and I'm happy to acknowledge it, but there's certainly a lot more to do.

COSTELLO: The GAO report also recommends that the IRS come out and actually come up with some sort of a procedure to guard against money that's meant for charities actually flowing into these terror organizations. I would have expected that that would have already been done.

Sen. DURBIN: I would have, too. And I think the GAO report is going to be stunning in that respect. I think the Department of the Treasury has some questions to answer in materials of the IRS activity here because we've certainly suspected for a long time that what's been collected in the name of charity is being actually used for terrorism. Now I don't want to diminish actual charitable contributions. They're still needed on an international basis, but we have to be a lot more careful.

COSTELLO: But are we possibly giving too much credit to al-Qaeda and these other terror organizations? We haven't had another attack on US soil in about two years or so. Are they really that smart? Are they really that proficient and adept at-at doing this?

Sen. DURBIN: Well, I'd say two things. Unfortunately, there's evidence around the world that al-Qaeda is alive and well. And we see in Turkey and other countries, where al-Qaeda activity has been identified. Secondly, we have to remember that most of these terrorist activities are low-budget items. We're not talking about millions of dollars. We're talking about thousands of dollars to execute a plan that can kill a lot of innocent people.

COSTELLO: Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, it's nice of you to join us on a Friday evening. Thank you, sir. Have a nice weekend.

Sen. DURBIN: Thank you, Tom.