Terrorist Finance Tracking Program

Fact Sheet

• After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States Department of the 

Treasury (Treasury) initiated the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) to identify, 

track, and pursue terrorists — such as Al-Qaida, Hizballah, HAMAS and their networks. 

This was an important part of Treasury’s larger effort to track terrorist money flows and 

assist in broader U.S. government efforts to uncover terrorist cells and map terrorist 

networks here at home and around the world.

• Treasury efforts have not only disrupted terrorist networks, they have saved lives. Since 

the start of the program, the TFTP has provided hundreds of thousands of valuable leads 

to U.S. government agencies and other governments that have aided in the prevention or 

investigation of many of the most visible and violent terrorist attacks and attempted 

attacks of the past decade. 

• As part of its vital national security mission, the Treasury issues subpoenas to the Society 

for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) — a Belgium-based 

company with U.S. offices that operates a worldwide messaging system used to transmit 

financial transaction information — seeking information on suspected international 

terrorists or their networks. Under the terms of the subpoena, the U.S. government may 

only review information as part of its efforts to prevent, detect, investigate, and prosecute 

terrorism. 

• At the end of 2009, SWIFT stopped storing some of the information under subpoena on 

its U.S. servers; the data are now stored in the European Union. The United States 

negotiated an agreement with the European Union on the processing and transfer of this 

information to Treasury. The Agreement became effective on August 1, 2010.

• Based on information that identifies an individual or entity, the U.S. government is able 

to conduct targeted searches against a limited subset of records provided by SWIFT, in 

order to trace financial transactions related to suspected terrorist activity, including 

terrorist funding. 

• SWIFT information greatly enhances our ability to map out terrorist networks, often 

filling in missing links in an investigative chain. The U.S. government acts on this 

information — and, for counter-terrorism purposes only, shares leads generated by the

TFTP with relevant governments’ counter-terrorism authorities — to target and disrupt 

the activities of terrorists and their supporters. 

• By following the money, the TFTP has allowed the United States and our allies to 

identify and locate operatives and their financiers, chart terrorist networks, and help keep 

money out of their hands.
• The protection of individual privacy is a cornerstone of the TFTP Agreement and the 

continued operation of the program. As such, TFTP has rigorous safeguards and 

protocols to protect privacy. Searches of records must identify the nexus to terrorism, 

and such searches are systematically logged and regularly scrutinized. Regular, 

independent audits of the program have confirmed that the U.S. government has 

consistently observed the safeguards and protocols that it agreed to establish.

• The TFTP is firmly rooted in Treasury’s legal authority, based on statutory mandates that 

include the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the United 

Nations Participation Act (UNPA), as well as specific Executive Orders. 

• The TFTP does not involve data mining. In fact, most personal identifying information

would never be included in the SWIFT data seen by counter-terrorism analysts under the 

TFTP. We work to ensure the appropriate and limited use of the information while 

maintaining a high degree of protection for individual privacy.

• SWIFT is overseen by a committee drawn from major central banks — including the U.S.

Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, 

and the lead overseer, the National Bank of Belgium. The overseers have been informed 

about SWIFT's involvement in Treasury’s TFTP efforts and the safeguards and 

assurances that have been put in place. 

• There is no doubt that America and our allies are safer today because of this program. 

Related Items

• Agreement Between the United States of America and the European Union on the 

Processing and Transfer of Financial Messaging Data from the European Union to the 

United States for the Purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program

• Redress Procedures for Seeking Access, Rectification, Erasure, or Blocking (under the 

U.S.-EU Agreement)

Contacts

For additional information or inquiries about the TFTP, please contact the United States 

Department of the Treasury at 202-622-2490 or via e-mail at TFTP@treasury.gov.

Last Update: December 2023