Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Senior Fellow and director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute.
Articles & Testimony
Over the past three years, the United States has uncovered just how systematically terrorist groups conceal their activities behind charitable, social, and political fronts. Investigators, faced with the threat posed by Al-Qa‘ida and its many affiliates, have come to appreciate the crucial role played by charities, foundations, and individual donors, who funnel support to social service organizations. These same organizations effectively provide recruits, logistics, and cover for terrorists; part of the battle against terror has been an international effort to shut them down. Few experts are misled anymore by the fictitious entities put up by terrorist organizations. Indeed, many of these fronts have seen their officials arrested, their assets seized, and their offices closed down by authorities. Yet there is one terrorist organization that still benefits from an ostensible distinction drawn by some analysts between its “military” and “political” or “social” wings: Hamas....
