Still searching for needles in haystacks

This video illustrates the problem of trying to detect terror finance transactions when the amounts involved are unremarkable compared to the millions of large volume transactions conducted every day throughout the international financial system.  It’s not the most exciting video, but you may want to pay special attention to the middle of the video which shows how the 9/11 hijackers were able to use Western banks (along with hawala transfers to their U.S. bank accounts from the UAE) without raising suspicions.  With apologies for the giant red bar across the bottom of the video:

It’s also worth noting that as much as regulations on the finance sector have increased to help detect terrorist financial transactions, the formula for detection has not.  We still assume that we can discern criminal intent through the size, structure, or frequency of financial transactions, as opposed to using a more common sense profile about the religion, national origin, gender, and age of the financial customer.