By David Bamford BBC correspondent in Washington

Investigators said agencies knew little of how funding was moved around

The US Government has been criticised for its lack of progress in impeding the flow of terrorism funding around the world, in a Congress investigative report.

The general accounting office of the Congress names the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Treasury Department and the Justice Department as having failed to systematically gather and share information on how terrorism is financed.

Two weeks after the destruction of the 11 September 2001 attacks, US President George W Bush issued an executive order instructing government agencies to impede financial transactions between suspected terrorists and their supporting agencies.

But now congressional investigators say the US Government has still failed to do enough to understand - let alone prevent - terrorist financial transactions.

'Some success'

The investigators, in their 50-page report, say government agencies still do not collect detailed information about how funding is moved around the globe in the form of commodities, including gold, through the drugs trade and through the sale of contraband cigarettes.

They also show little understanding of how such funds are hidden within charity financing and other types of money-laundering techniques.

The Treasury Department, in a preliminary response, says it has had some success, identifying and freezing suspected terrorist assets of more than $130m.

But US Congress members, who called for this investigation, say they suspect this is the tip of a much bigger iceberg that authorities have hardly begun to appreciate.