Talk:Financial intelligence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Categories

I removed espionage, as the bulk of FININT comes from legally defined reports from financial institutions. While I can't rule out the occasional tip from an insider, espionage really does not apply here. Espionage is concerned with people, trusted with sensitive information, illegally providing it to unauthorized parties. In the case of the US, at least, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (GLBA), and that which is variously called the Bank Secrecy Act, Currency and Foreign Transaction Reporting Act, or Anti-Money Laundering Law, all prescribe that sensitive information is to be given to legally authorized parties. While there are privacy concerns, this is clearly not unauthorized disclosure.

It is arguable if it is truly an intelligence collection technique. There are arguments that it is more analysis of raw material than the collection of the raw material. We really need two terms, one for the reporting and one for the analysis.

Another awkward problem in categorization is this, more than most intelligence discipline, often overlaps with conventional law enforcement. In the US, the reports go to a financial law enforcement organization which, if a report suggests terrorist or espionage, only then sends it to an intelligence agency. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the US Department of the Treasury is not generally considered part of the intelligence community. Howard C. Berkowitz 17:21, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Globalising and generalizing

Right now, the specific examples of required reporting in the US are all from the US. Examples from other countries are very welcome. If, as in the US, there are different FININT organizations working domestically and internationally, that also would help. Howard C. Berkowitz (talk) 12:08, 4 March 2008 (UTC)