(VOVworld)- The U.S. Justice Department has provided specific suggestions to governments in Europe and elsewhere on how to strengthen counterterrorism laws in order to arrest would-be foreign fighters before they join groups like Islamic State, according to a policy paper reviewed by Reuters.

Islamic State fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province, Syria June 30, 2014. Reuters/Stringer

U.S. government officials distributed the paper to overseas government agencies earlier this year as part of a push by the Obama administration to track and stem the flow of homegrown foreign fighters from Europe bound for Syria and Iraq, a person with knowledge of the matter said. U.S. officials began lobbying for European countries to enact legal changes targeting Islamic State as early as 2014. But the March 2015 memo details the steps the Justice Department has urged other governments to consider, including prosecuting “aspiring foreign fighters” before they leave for Syria or Iraq. Specifically, the document urges governments to consider making it a crime to travel to designated areas like those under the control of Islamic State or to attempt to join a group deemed by an overseas government to be a terrorist organization. “In the United States, this approach has proven very effective in intercepting foreign fighter travel,” the document said.