Budget Adds Funds to Agencies Tracking Terrorist Financiers

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration wants to make more money available for two agencies central to the government’s efforts to paralyze terrorists financially and to combat money laundering.

The president’s budget for 2005 will seek from Congress increases of almost 13% for the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCen, and about 4% for the Office of Foreign Assets Control, called OFAC, the department said Friday.

“President Bush has reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to aggressively fight terrorism on every front,” Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said of the funding request.

FinCen analyzes and shares a network of financial information with law enforcement and intelligence agencies to help investigate terrorist financiers. OFAC is responsible for ordering U.S. banks to block assets of suspected terrorist financiers and for enforcing economic sanctions against countries, such as Cuba, and against suspected drug overlords.