UNITED NATIONS, March 5 (UPI) -- The head of the United Nations announced that its unit focused on combating global terrorism would begin transitioning into an operational task force.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named Jean-Paul Laborde, the former director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime's Terrorism Prevention Branch, as the head of the U.N. Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force.
The CTITF, responsible for implementing the United Nations' counter-terrorism strategy and other measures to combat threats from global radicalism, will begin shifting to an operational phase with the appointment of Laborde, the United Nations reported.
Officials said Laborde is one of the founding members of CTITF and will lead new operational chapter for the task force as it focuses on issues "including the financing of terrorism and terrorists' use of the Internet," according to a news release.
