Operation Greensweep

The marijuana cultivation region centered in California's Humboldt County had over time become known as the Emerald Triangle. Operation Green Sweep was a US military operation in northern California in 1990. For two weeks a contingent of 200 active-duty military troops conducted a massive marijuana eradication maneuver in which military helicopters flew overhead surveying residents, homes, and fields, and conducting road blocks, interrogations, and detentions. There were violent demonstrations by Humboldt County locals against Green Sweep, which set back the marijuana growers profits three years.

Experience gained in Green Sweep demonstrated the need for public affairs programs to support operations, thorough intelligence preparation of the operating area, consensus building among law enforcement officials, improved logistics for forest eradication.

Resources

• MISSIONS IN SUPPORT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT CHAPTER 7 FM 100-19 FMFM 7-10 DOMESTIC SUPPORT OPERATIONS 1 July 1993

Documents

• Into the Emerald Triangle BY BILL WEINBERG High Times
• Counterdrug Strategy - Illusive Victory: From Blast Furnace to Green Sweep William W. Mendel, Colonel, U.S. Army (retired) Military Review December 1992, pp. 74-87
• Hooked on the Drug War by Jennifer Vogel City Pages - June 28, 1995
• Smoke a Joint, Lose Your License;" The Return of the Bad Penny By Mark Drake
• MILITARY ROLE IN DRUG INTERDICTION SOS Current Military Issues Topic. August 1997

Web Sites

• Civil Liberties Monitoring Project An organization of volunteers who observe, document, report on, and try to deal with government activities which seem to abuse civil liberties.