WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 - A Bush administration delegation left tonight for Riyadh to work with Saudi Arabia to improve its oversight of charities that American officials say may be channeling money to terrorist groups.
The goal of the delegation - made up of fewer than 10 officials from the Treasury Department, the State Department and the National Security Council - is to help the Saudi government set up a mechanism for overseeing the charities, many of which are supported by prominent Saudi businessmen.
"This is the beginning of our dialogue with the Saudis on financial flows," said a senior administration official involved in planning the mission who insisted on anonymity. "The team will take a look at certain accounts and institutions that have rung some bells for us. We don't know if there's anything there, but we think it's important to check. We want to go through the records, find out what went where to whom."
The official added that the United States wants to set up some standard guidelines for investigating the accounts and institutions, and that American officials will have a "partly advisory" function.
"We're interested in how do you control charities, what are they doing, what ideas they might have," the official said.
The delegation is headed by R. Richard Newcombe, the director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Treasury Department. The mission is a follow-up to the visit to Saudi Arabia last week by William Burns, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs.
Tonight's trip was announced this morning at the White House by President Bush's press secretary, Ari Fleischer, who described it as "part of a good dialogue" between the United States and Saudi Arabia. "They're going to talk about ongoing cooperation on the financial front, and the fight against terrorism," Mr. Fleischer said.
However, State Department officials expressed dismay that the White House announced the mission at all, saying that publicity would raise expectations and perhaps make the Saudis defensive and therefore less cooperative.
The White House has continued to praise Saudi Arabia publicly for its efforts to fight terrorism, but in private there has been strain between the two nations, particularly over financial matters.
Last week in Riyadh, a senior Saudi official said that American requests that the Saudi government freeze bank accounts had not been accompanied by proof that the individuals and businesses involved had any link to terrorism.
The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, has defended what he called the kingdom's cautious approach, particularly as the Bush administration has questioned him about Saudi charities.
"We have urged on everybody concerned that when you're talking about financial assets and banks and organizations that are dealing with humanitarian affairs, one must be careful not to do damage to institutions unjustly," Prince Saud said in an interview. "It behooves us that sound institutions not get harmed by mistaken identities, or that humanitarian organizations that are doing a good service not be tarnished."
The Treasury Department has named Yasin al-Qadi, a prominent Saudi businessman, as one of those who have channeled millions of dollars to terrorist organizations. Treasury officials said Mr. Qadi had raised money from some of the kingdom's most prominent families through the Muwafaq Foundation, which Treasury officials have described as a front for Osama bin Laden's network, Al Qaeda.
Mr. Qadi has rejected the accusation and has filed suit in a British court to challenge the freezing of his assets in Britain.
American officials said that the Saudis have been exceptionally cooperative on criminal matters, and have been meeting almost every day to share information about terrorist suspects - not least, officials said, because the Saudi royal family is despised by Mr. bin Laden. Fifteen of the 19 terrorists who hijacked four planes on Sept. 11 were Saudi nationals.
"I don't think it is exactly a state secret that right alongside us and Israel, the House of Saud was the major target of Osama bin Laden," Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage said in a recent interview. He added that "sometimes they might have even been ahead of us in the hate parade."
Mr. Armitage also said that the Saudis were cooperating with American officials, and that other agencies in the government had not asked the State Department to intervene with the Saudis to help along U.S. investigators.
"No one has come to us and asked us to ratchet up any pressure on the government of Saudi Arabia to get this or that," he said.