“WEAPONIZED FINANCE”: COUNTER THREAT FINANCE AS A MARINE CORPS OPERATIONAL CAPABILITY

Abstract

This thesis aims to demonstrate the critical importance of Counter Threat Finance (CTF) as an essential operational capability for the United States Marine Corps. Despite the evolving nature of modern warfare, where financial networks increasingly serve as the lifeblood of adversarial operations, the Marine Corps has yet to fully embrace CTF as a core warfighting competency. This oversight is particularly glaring when juxtaposed against the significant investments and advancements made in domains such as Space, Information Operations, and Cyber. The Marine Corps’ failure to leverage the economic domain with finance for operational effects represents a substantial gap in its strategic arsenal. Without a robust CTF framework, the Corps risks allowing adversaries to sustain and expand their operations unchecked, inadvertently prolonging conflicts. Its absences could raise material and human costs, missing opportunities to disrupt enemy supply chains and weapons procurement and leave exploitable vulnerabilities in financial safeguarding measures. This thesis explores the benefits of integrating CTF capabilities, examines successful implementations in other military and government sectors, and proposes a roadmap for the Marine Corps to develop and deploy this critical 21st-century warfighting tool. By adopting CTF as a core competency, the Marine Corps can enhance its operational effectiveness and contribute more robustly to joint and combined operations.