To designate an organization as a proscribed terrorist group, the United States government (USG) only needs to have a “reasonable suspicion” that it is providing “financial, material, or technological support for, or financial or other services to” a designated terrorist organization or “otherwise associate[ing]” with a designated organization. Consequences of designation include the seizing and freezing of all tangible and financial assets and significant civil and criminal penalties. Designated organizations may be Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) listed by the Secretary of State, Specially Designated Terrorist (SDT) listed by the Department of Treasury, or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) also listed by Treasury.
In October 2001, the PATRIOTatriot Act expanded the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by allowing sanctions pending an investigation, so that “all the blocking effects of a designation, including freezing an organization’s assets indefinitely and criminalizing all its transactions, without designating it as a SDGT. Treasury only needs to assert that it is investigating whether the entity should be designated.” It also allows the court to review classified information in the agency record without notice to or knowledge of the blocked organization.
Penalties for charities suspected of violating U.S. counterterrorism policies can be severe: organizations can be raided and destroyed, and officers sentenced to life imprisonment. If a charity’s assets and funds, including donations, are seized by the government, there is no process to release the charitable funds to programs that respect the intentions of the donors.
This page contains information on various aspects of the Designation Process, including Due Process, Frozen Funds, and Listing and Delisting. Please see our Background page for details on the Material Support prohibition and how that underpins our work.
Featured Resources
C&SN Urges President Biden to Resist Calls to Designate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization
Washington, D.C. - The Charity & Security Network (C&SN), a coalition of more than 500 civil society representatives dedicated to protecting the rights of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) that help communities and address pressing human rights
Understanding OFAC’s 2023 Supplemental Guidance for the Provision of Humanitarian Assistance Under the New & Amended Dec. 2022 General Licenses
On Feb. 27, 2023, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Supplemental Guidance for the Provision of Humanitarian Assistance (“2023 Fact Sheet”) to update OFAC’s Guidance Related to the Provision of Humanitarian Assistance by
American Bar Association Calls on Israel to Disclose Evidence to Designated Palestinian NGOs
On April 22, 2022, Reginald Turner, the President of the American Bar Association (ABA)—the largest voluntary association of attorneys and legal professionals in the world—wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Israel’s
Palestinian NGOs File Objection to Israeli Designations, Citing Lack of Evidence and Due Process
Today, 5 Palestinian organizations declared ‘unlawful associations’ by the Israeli military filed an objection to the designation, citing a lack of due process, a lack of evidence, conflict of interest, and violation of the rule
Six Years of War in Yemen Reveal Entrenched Humanitarian Access Problems
Washington, D.C., March 24, 2021 — Tomorrow marks the 6th anniversary of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. As a direct result of the war, Yemen has for years now been home to the worst humanitarian
Fixing “Material Support” — Lessons from the Houthi Terror Designation – Just Security
March 18, 2021 C&SN Director Paul Carroll writes for Just Security on the lessons learned from the designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group—namely that the underlying material support legal regime still poses unacceptable