Maine’s Republican congressman is taking on a new committee assignment to investigate the financing of terrorism.

“Our nation faces grave threats from terror cells worldwide, which rely on the black market and other dark streams of capital to finance their operations,” said U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, whose 2nd District spans central and northern Maine.

Poliquin joined the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance on the House Financial Services Committee.

“It is a privilege to join this congressional body and to continue my work in investigating and rooting out terrorism financing around the world to help keep America safe,” he said in a prepared statement Friday.

During his first term in Congress, Poliquin was a founding member of the Bipartisan Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing.

The chairman of that task force, U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., said in December that it “investigated the financial mechanisms terrorists use to fund their activities.”

“We discovered highly critical vulnerabilities, namely federal information sharing and inter-agency coordination,” he said. The panel’s report should serve “as a guide for the next Congress in crafting legislation to thwart terrorist groups from carrying out their vicious global operations,” he said.

“Combating terror financing is a significant and often overlooked component of our national security strategy,” Fitzpatrick said.

In addition to the terrorism panel, Poliquin will serve on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities and Investment.

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poliquin, terrorism
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