25 October 2001
Text: Customs Service on Anti-Terrorist Finance Initiative
("Green Quest" aims at underground systems, charities) (830)
The Treasury and Justice departments have announced they are launching
an initiative aimed at cutting off terrorist groups' access to
funding.
An October 25 U.S. Customs Service press release said the initiative,
called "Operation Green Quest," will scrutinize underground financial
systems, illicit charities and corrupt financial institutions.
"The initiative will also target counterfeiting, credit card fraud,
fraudulent import/export schemes, drug trafficking, cash smuggling,
and other activities that may fund terrorists," the press release
said.
Green Quest field task forces in New York and elsewhere will take as a
model the successful El Dorado Task Force, created in 1992 to address
the prolific money laundering threat in New York, it said.
The Customs Service has been designated lead agency in Operation Green
Quest, it said.
Following is the text of the press release:
(begin text)
U.S. CUSTOMS SERVICE LAUNCHES "OPERATION GREEN QUEST"
Multi-Agency Initiative to Target Sources of Funding for Terrorist
Organizations
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Deputy Treasury Secretary Kenneth Dam, Assistant
Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Treasury Under Secretary of
Enforcement Jimmy Gurule, and U.S. Customs Service Commissioner Robert
C. Bonner today announced the launch of Operation Green Quest, a new
multi-agency financial enforcement initiative.
The goal of Operation Green Quest is to augment existing
counter-terrorist efforts by bringing the full scope of the
government's financial expertise to bear against systems, individuals,
and organizations that serve as sources of terrorist funding. The
initiative will target current terrorist funding sources and identify
possible future funding sources.
Underground financial systems, illicit charities, and corrupt
financial institutions are among the entities to be scrutinized as
possible facilitators of terrorist funding. The initiative will also
target counterfeiting, credit card fraud, fraudulent import/export
schemes, drug trafficking, cash smuggling, and other activities that
may fund terrorists.
Led by the U.S. Customs Service, Operation Green Quest will serve as
the operational and investigative arm for the Office of Foreign Assets
Control, the new Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking center, the
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and other entities tracking
terrorist assets. Using leads from these entities and leads developed
independently, the initiative will launch full-scale investigations
resulting in seizures, blocking orders, civil and criminal
forfeitures, criminal prosecutions, and other actions.
Operation Green Quest will use the full array of law enforcement
techniques to pursue its objectives, including undercover operations,
electronic surveillance, outbound currency operations, and the
exploitation of intelligence data, financial data, trade data, and
confidential source data. The initiative will also draw on the
resources and expertise of the Treasury and Justice Departments and
many other federal agencies.
A command and coordination center for Operation Green Quest has been
created at Customs Service headquarters. A senior Customs official
will serve as the director and a senior IRS [Internal Revenue Service]
official will serve as the deputy. A senior FBI [Federal Bureau of
Investigation] official will also be posted to the facility. Two
federal prosecutors from the Justice Department and nearly 30 special
agents and analysts from the participating agencies will be present.
The Customs Money Laundering Coordination Center will be supporting
this center.
The Green Quest coordination center for will be responsible for
collecting, managing, and disseminating leads to field agents. The
center will serve as a deconfliction mechanism for all investigative
activity related to the initiative. In addition, the center will serve
as a means to exchange data with the FBI and other agencies targeting
terrorist finances and to ensure that their activities are not
duplicated by Operation Green Quest
Outside Washington, D.C., Operation Green Quest will have field task
forces pursuing terrorist finances. Each of these multi-agency units
will be modeled after an existing financial task force in New York
known as the "El Dorado Task Force." The first unit will be located at
the Customs Special Agent-in-Charge Office in New York and will
actually operate as a component of the El Dorado Task Force.
By utilizing the existing El Dorado framework for the first field
unit, Operation Green Quest will immediately be able to draw on an
established financial intelligence center and a large cadre of highly
trained special agents, analysts, and bank regulators. Following the
establishment of the task force in New York, Operation Green Quest
will consider establishing similar task forces in other parts of the
country.
Consistent with the 2001 National Money Laundering Strategy, the
Customs Service and other participating agencies will monitor the
effectiveness of Operation Green Quest based on qualitative,
quantitative, and enforcement measurements.
The Treasury Department agencies participating in Operation Green
Quest are the Customs Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Office of Foreign Assets
Control, and the Secret Service. The Federal Bureau of Investigation
and federal prosecutors from the Justice Department's Criminal
Division are representing the Justice Department in Operation Green
Quest.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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