Abstract : Few aspects of the global war on terror are as inscrutable as the battle being waged on the financial front. Money for al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups is raised and moved worldwide and channeled through a web of institutions and individuals. The United States, other governments, the United Nations, and a range of international organizations have grappled with how best to address this daunting challenge. Leslie H. Gelb established the Independent Task Force on Terrorist Financing in 2002 to evaluate U.S. efforts to disrupt the financing of terrorist activities. The first report, chaired by Maurice R. Greenberg, concluded that although al-Qaeda's finances had been disrupted, they had not been destroyed and that as long as al-Qaeda retained access to a viable financial network, it would remain a threat to the United States. The initial report recommended a series of steps to ensure a more effective U.S. and international response to al-Qaeda's global financial network. Subsequent world events -- including the May 2003 Riyadh bombings and the war in Iraq -- made it clear that a further review of efforts of the U.S. and Saudi governments to curtail terrorist financing was warranted. In this update, the Task Force reports both on important achievements and on the work that remains to be done. The Task Force, composed of a bipartisan group of experts from the foreign policy, business, law enforcement, and intelligence communities, makes a series of recommendations to redouble efforts to frustrate al-Qaeda's financial network.