dr. matthew levitt, the director on counterterrorism for the near east policy. dr. levitt was deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at treasury. last but not least, dr. patrick johnson is an associate political scientist at the rand corporation where he specializes in counterterrorism, especially in afghanistan and the philippines. without objection, your full written statements will be made a part of the statement after your oral remarks. i'm not sure who has testified before congress before. but like the traffic light system, we have the green, yellow, red lighting system. yellow will go off when you have one minute to go. i ask you each observe the five-minute time allocation. professor gurlea, you are recognized for a summary of your testimony. >> thank you, chairman, members of the house committee on financial services. permit me to begin by thanking you for inviting me to testify before the committee on the topic of primary sources of funding for the islamic state of iraq and syria known as isis. to enhance the u.s. government's counter terro

dr. levitt, you're now recognized for a summary of your testimony. >> thank you, mr. chairman, it's an honor to be here to discuss this timely and important issue. to counterisis is focused on five mutually enforcing lines of effort, to stop the isis financing and funding. it may be a difficult task because of the al qaeda affiliates. combating isis's financing is an international campaign against the group too extreme heen for al qaeda. the tools have proven uniquely effective to stem the funds, but the sources of actionable financial intelligence. sometimes you let the money flow so you can watch it and tag there. there's no doubt in areas where isis financing crosses the international borders, especially the formal financial sector, but banks, but even alternative financial mechanisms. in those cases they've developed since 9/11 will continue to be an effective means to improve the financing. it comes from illicit oil smuggling, and the deep pocket donors we know about in the gulf and elsewhere, kidnap for ransom payments, black market, sell looted ancient artifact

dr. atthew levitt, the director on counterterrorism for the near east policy. dr. levitt was deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at treasury. last but not least, dr. patrick johnson is an associate political scientist at the rand corporation where he specializes in counterterrorism, especially in afghanistan and the philippines. without objection, your full written statements will be made a part of the statement after your oral remarks. i'm not sure who has testified before congress before. but like the traffic light system, we have the green, yellow, red lighting system. yellow will go off when you have one minute to go. i ask you each observe the five-minute time allocation. professor gurlea, you are recognized for a summary of your testimony. >> thank you, chairman, members of the house committee on financial services. permit me to begin by thanking you for inviting me to testify before the committee on the topic of primary sources of funding for the islamic state of iraq and syria known as isis. to enhance the u.s. government's counter terro

dr. matthew levitt, the director on the stein program of counterterrorism and intelligence at the washington institution for near-east policy. dr. leavitt previously served as deputy assistant for the secretary for intelligence and analysis at treasury. last but not least, dr. patrick johnson is an associate political scientist at the rand corporation where he specializes in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, especially in afghanistan, and the philippines. without objection, your full written statements will be made a part of the record after your oral remarks. i'm not sure who has testified before congress before. but like the traffic light system, we have the green, yellow, red lighting system. yellow will go off when you have one minute to go. i ask you each observe the five-minute time allocation. professor gurle you are now recommended for summary of your testimony. >> thank you chairman hensarling, members of the house committee on financial services. permit me to begin by thanking you for inviting me to testify before the committee on the topic of primary sources of funding for t

dr. levitt, you are recognized. >> thank you, chairman, ranking member, it's an honor to be or to discuss the time an important issue. u.s. government effort to counter the islamic state or isis is focused on five enforcing lines of ever. one of which aims to stop isis financing and funding. that may prove to be a difficult task in large part due to the differences between funding models employed by isis and other al-qaeda affiliates but not one beyond international immunities capability. combating financing is important to note of in hushed helping against the group to be too extreme for a cut. there's no doubt that there's no everywhere crosses international borders or leverages international financial system, especially formal financial sector but banks, but even alternative transfer mechanisms. in those cases additional tools to develop in the u.s. since 9/1nine 9/11 continue to brutaly effective means of countering financing. this includes isis income from illicit oil smuggling, donations from deep pocket donors in the gulf and elsewhere can kidnap for ransom payments efforts to acce

dr. levitt. would you assess that the primary source of revenue for isil is the oil revenue? >> by far. >> okay. how effective as u.s. efforts in so far, the coalition's efforts been so far at targeting the middlemen in the iraqi kurds or, to the turkish elements that constitute the middlemen, how effective how we been in identifying those middlemen that are delivering the oil to other parts of? >> there's very little in the open source about. when i talk to people privately miners and is there has been some progress in identifying these people, then take some time to put together packages and fully get to the point where you can designate somebody that i expect those designations will be forthcoming. we've seen more success in working with partners in places like turkey and in the kurdish areas of the north of iraq where the problem isn't so much criminal middlemen, that corrupt politicians who are involved in this as well. keep in mind these are oil smuggling routes, and individuals have been involved in this for your since the oil for food program. combating something that

dr. levitt. would you assess that the primary source of revenue for isil is the oil revenue? >> by far. >> okay. and so how effective has u.s. efforts been so far, the coalition's efforts been so far at targeting the middle men in iraqi -- the iraqi kurds, or the turkish elements that are -- that constitute the middle men, how effective have we been at identifying those middle men that are delivering the oil to other parties? >> there's very little in the open source about it. when i talk to people privately, my understanding is there has been some progress in identifying these people, and taking time to put together packages and get to the point that you can actually designate somebody. i expect those designations will be forthcoming. we've seen more success in working in partners in places like turkey, and in kurdish areas in the north of iraq, where the problem isn't so much criminal middle men, but corrupt politicians who are involved in this as well. keep in mind, these are oil smuggling routes, and individuals have been involved in this for years, since the oil for food