Remarks of Undersecretary of the Department of Treasury for Enforcement, Jimmy Gurulé
Madrid, Spain, 12/10/01

On September 11, President George W. Bush declared war on terrorism. This is a global war and one that if we have any hopes of being successful we must engage in cooperation with all of our allies, including Spain. Spain is a very important partner in this global undertaking, a partner who has been very cooperative with respect to our efforts to date and one that I want to thank personally, to reach out to thank personally, in my various visits throughout the day.

With respect to the global war on terrorism going after the financial networks of terrorist organizations is a very critical component of President [Bush]’s strategy. With respect to that component the Treasury Department, the enforcement office, the office that I oversee, has been given a mandate by President Bush to develop a strategy in a campaign to go after the terrorist funds, not only the ones responsible for underwriting the terrorist activities of 9/11, but to go after the terrorist funds and starve these terrorist organizations of their financial means with the objective of preventing future terrorist attacks, both in the United States and globally.

I think my visit today is particularly timely, in light of the fact that, as you well know, tomorrow marks the three-month anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. This is an opportunity for me to meet with high-level Spanish officials and give them an overview of our efforts to date to starve these terrorist groups of their funds.

Quickly, with respect to that effort, the U.S. has designated, 153 terrorist entities and individuals related to Al Qaeda, and most recently, on December 4, the President designated 3 entities that are related to Hamas. That event is significant because it signals the second phase of this war against terrorist financing. It signals an expansion of our efforts against other terrorist organizations beyond Al Qaeda and the Taliban. To date the United States has received unprecedented support from his allies. 140 nations have issued blocking orders in response to the listings, the designations of the 153 entities and individuals. To date the United States and his allies have blocked approximately $67 million dollars in assets, approximately $33 million in the United States and a little more than that internationally. So we are very pleased with the progress that has been made to date but at the same time this is a long-term effort and to be honest with you we are barely getting started, we are making some real progress but it is a long haul. The United States in this effort is in for the long term.

So, I’m here not only to give our good friends in the Spanish government an overview of our efforts to date and thank them for their support, but at the same time to reach out to them with request for additional support. We want to find ways in which we can work even more closely together and ways in which we can share information on a real time basis. Keep in mind that the objective is not simply to block assets, the objective here is to block assets to actually save lives, and we believe that if we can dismantle these financial networks it will have a preventative effect in the future in making it more difficult for terrorist attacks like those that took place on September 11 to be repeated in our country.

Finally, the purpose of my visit is to extend an offer of assistance on behalf of the United States. As you know, President Bush and the Department of the Treasury listed on November 2, or added on November 2, to the presidential annex list ETA as a terrorist organization. Therefore, the Department of the Treasury has the authority to block in the United States any accounts, bank accounts, related to ETA. In my meetings throughout the day I’m going to be offering assistance. If there is any information that Spanish authorities have that there are bank accounts related to ETA in the United States, I would like to offer to receive that information, to take that information back to the United States, so that we can use it to assist the Spanish government in this service against this very violent terrorist organization, ETA. So that brief overview of the purpose of my visit, I’m pleased to answer any questions you migh have.

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