Saudi Arabia and the United States have for the first time agreed to set up a joint task force that will station U.S. law enforcement officials in the desert kingdom to target individuals suspected of funneling millions of dollars to al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, officials from both countries said yesterday. Senior officials of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are flying to Riyadh today to iron out the operational details of the group, which will focus on mining information from bank accounts, computer records and other financial data to track and shut down the money flow, according to senior officials from both governments. Although several joint task forces have been tried before, none allowed U.S. officials to live in Saudi Arabia or have access to Saudi documents and investigations. U.S. and Saudi officials said the impetus for strengthening cooperation between the two nations came from al Qaeda’s attacks in Saudi Arabia in May, when suicide car bombings of residential compounds in Riyadh killed 34 people, including nine assailants. Full Story
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.