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CRM 1-499

15. Providing Material Support To Terrorists (18 U.S.C. § 2339A)

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 amended 18 U.S.C. § 2339A to expand its list of terrorist type offenses. See Pub. L. 104-132, § 323, 110 Stat. 1214, 1255. Section 2339A, originally enacted on September 13, 1994, is primarily a statute aimed at reaching those persons who provide material support to terrorists knowing that such support will be used to commit one of the offenses specified in the statute. (The offenses specified in the statute are: 18 U.S.C. §§ 32, 37, 81, 175, 351, 831, 842(m) or (n), 844(f) or (i), 956, 1114, 1116, 1203, 1361, 1362, 1363, 1366, 1751, 2155, 2156, 2280, 2281, 2332, 2332a, 2332b, or 2340A and 49 U.S.C. §  46502.) The section requires only that the supplier of the material support have knowledge of its intended use. Section 2339A, unlike the aiding and abetting statute (18 U.S.C. § 2), does not require that the supplier also have whatever specific intent the perpetrator of the actual terrorist act must have to commit one of the specified offenses. The 1996 amendment also eliminated former subsection 2339A(c) which had imposed unworkable investigative restrictions upon the statute's utilization.