Rewards for Justice Program

Last updated
Rewards For Justice
Rewards For Justice Logo.jpg
Seal of the Rewards For Justice Program
Agency overview
FormedJune 6, 1984;39 years ago (1984-06-06)
TypeInteragency Rewards Program
MottoStop a Terrorist and Save Lives
Agency executives
  • Antony J. Blinken [1] , Secretary of State
  • Gentry O. Smith [2] , Assistant Secretary Bureau of Diplomatic Security
  • Paul R. Houston [3] , Deputy Assistant Secretary and Assistant Director of the Diplomatic Security Service for Threat Investigations and Analysis Bureau of Diplomatic Security
Parent department U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service
Website www.rewardsforjustice.net


Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) is a U.S. government interagency rewards program that offers money as an incentive for information leading to the arrest of leaders of terrorist groups, financiers of terrorism, including any individual that abide in plotting attacks by cooperating with foreign terrorist organizations. [4] In accordance to the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism, the U.S. State Department established the Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program as an interagency rewards program. The foreign threat intelligence committee includes the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) governed by the U.S. Department of State (DOS), [5] Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) of the Department of Defense (DOD), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Secret Service and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S Department of Treasury and the White House. [6] The Rewards for Justice Program directly addresses the foreign threat assessment by identifying entities such as key leaders and financial mechanism of the foreign terrorist organizations.

Contents

History

The program was established by the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism (Public Law 98-533), [7] and it is administered by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. [8] The Rewards for Justice Program was formerly known as the Counter-Terror Rewards Program, soon shortened to the HEROES program. In 1993, DS launched www.heroes.net [9] to help publicize reward information. Brad Smith, a Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) special agent assigned to desk duty due to illness, served as the lone site administrator and program manager running the operation from his home. [10] [11] By 1997, the site was getting more than one million hits a year from 102 countries. [12] Smith is also credited with the idea to put photos of wanted terrorists on matchbook covers. [10] DSS agents assigned to embassies and consulates throughout the world ensured that the matchbooks got wide distribution at bars and restaurants.

A Rewards for Justice bounty post 2006 April BLOODMONEYPOSTER3 lg back.jpg
A Rewards for Justice bounty post

The Secretary of State is currently offering rewards for information that prevents or favorably resolves acts of international terrorism against U.S. persons or property worldwide. Rewards also may be paid for information leading to the arrest or conviction of terrorists attempting, committing, conspiring to commit, or aiding and abetting in the commission of such acts. The Rewards for Justice program has paid more than $250 million to 125 individuals for leading information that prevented international terrorist attacks or helped bring to justice those involved in prior acts. [7] [13] [14]

After the September 11 attacks, the list of wanted terrorists increased dramatically, and rewards were also increased, as part of the U.S. efforts to capture al-Qaeda leadership. However, the plan has been largely ineffective against Islamic terrorists. [15] The largest reward offered was $25 million for the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, which had "attracted hundreds of anonymous calls but no reliable leads." [15] Osama bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by members of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group and Central Intelligence Agency operatives in a covert operation on May 1, 2011.

Robert A. Hartung, Assistant Director of Diplomatic Security's Threat Investigations and Analysis Directorate, announced on September 2, 2010 that the U.S. Department of State's Rewards for Justice program is offering rewards of up to $5 million each for information that leads law enforcement or security forces to Hakimullah Mehsud and Wali ur Rehman. [16] [17] [18] [19] Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented a list of "the five most wanted terrorists" to Pakistan; [20] the list included Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mohammed Omar, Ilyas Kashmiri, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman and Sirajuddin Haqqani. [20] Each of these five had bounties issued against them by the program; [21] however, Kashmiri, who US Intelligence officials said they were 99% sure was killed in an airstrike in South Waziristan on June 3, 2011, was removed from the list. [21] Rahman was killed in an airstrike in North Waziristan in August 2011. [22] Omar died of tuberculosis in Karachi, Pakistan in April 2013. [23] Al-Zawahiri was killed in a drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan in July 2022. [24]

On December 22, 2011, Rewards for Justice announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil (aka Yasin al-Suri), the leader of an al-Qaeda fundraising network in Iran that transfers money and recruits via Iranian territory to Pakistan and Afghanistan. [25] It marked the first time that Rewards for Justice offered a reward for information leading to a terrorist financier. [26]

In April 2020, Rewards for Justice Program offered $5 million for information leading to identify North Korean hackers threatening the United States. [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Qaeda</span> Pan-Islamic Sunni Jihadist terrorist organization (established 1988)

Al-Qaeda is a pan-Islamist militant organization led by Sunni Jihadists who self-identify as a vanguard spearheading a global Islamist revolution to unite the Muslim world under a supra-national Islamic state known as the Caliphate. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include people from other ethnic groups. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian, economic and military targets of the US and its allies; such as the 1998 US embassy bombings, the USS Cole bombing and the September 11 attacks. The organization is designated as a terrorist group by NATO, UN Security Council, the European Union, and various countries around the world.

The FBI Most Wanted Terrorists is a list created and first released on October 10, 2001, with the authority of United States President George W. Bush, following the September 11 attacks (9/11 incident). Initially, the list contained 22 of the top suspected terrorists chosen by the FBI, all of whom had earlier been indicted for acts of terrorism between 1985 and 1998. None of the 22 had been captured by US or other authorities by that date. Of the 22, only Osama Bin Laden was by then already listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayman al-Zawahiri</span> Egyptian militant and 2nd emir of al-Qaeda (1951–2022)

Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri, was an Egyptian-born militant and physician who served as the second general emir of al-Qaeda from June 2011 until his death in July 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saif al-Adel</span> Current de-facto Emir of Al-Qaeda (born 1960)

Mohamed Salah al-Din al-Halim Zaidan commonly known by his nom de guerreSaif al-Adel is a former Egyptian Army officer and explosives expert who is widely understood to be the de facto leader of al-Qaeda. Al-Adel fought the Soviets as an Afghan Arab before becoming a founding member of the al-Qaeda organization. He is a member of Al-Qaeda's Majlis al-Shura and has headed the organization's military committee since the death of Muhammad Atef in 2001. He is currently known to live in Iran along with several other senior members of the group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah</span> Egyptian al-Qaeda member (1963–2020)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bureau of Diplomatic Security</span> U.S. State Department security and law enforcement division

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qasim al-Raymi</span> Yemeni al-Qaeda member (1978–2020)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhsin al-Fadhli</span> Kuwaiti al-Qaeda member (1981–2015)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abd al-Rahman al-Maghrebi</span> Moroccan al-Qaeda member

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul R. Houston</span> American federal law enforcement officer (born 1979)

Paul R. Houston is an American federal law enforcement officer who serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the U.S. Department of State for the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) for Threat Investigations and Analysis (TIA). During his career with the DSS, Houston served as the director of the DSS Office of Special Investigations conducting criminal and administrative investigations for the U.S. Department of State. Paul served as the deputy director of the Department of State (DS) Command Center. As a member of the Advisory team, he led and participated in numerous projects in the public and private sections, involving conducting overseas criminal and administrative investigations, threat dissemination and crisis command and control.

References

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