Operation Green Quest was a U.S. interagency investigative unit formed in October 2001 after the

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. Sponsored by the

United States Customs Service The United States Customs Service was the very first federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted c ...

, it was concerned with the surveillance and interdiction of

terrorist financing Terrorism financing is the provision of funds or providing financial support to individual terrorists or non-state actors. Most countries have implemented measures to counter terrorism financing (CTF) often as part of their money laundering l ...

sources. It was disbanded in June 2003 pursuant to an agreement between the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

and the

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Synopsis

Led by the U.S. Customs Service, and included agents and analysts from the

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(IRS), the

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, the

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and preven ...

(ATF), the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI), the

Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy ob ...

(OFAC), the

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions in order to combat domestic and international money laundering, terr ...

(FinCEN), the

U.S. Postal Inspection Service The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), or the Postal Inspectors, is the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. It supports and protects the U.S. Postal Service, its employees, infrastructure, and customers by enfor ...

, and the

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. Federal prosecutors from the

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's Criminal Division also formed an integral part of Operation Green Quest. The director of Operation Green Quest was a senior special agent from U.S. Customs and the deputy director is a senior special agent from the IRS. According to Customs, by its fourth month of Operation Green Quest had initiated more than 300 probes into terrorist finances, seizing about $10.3m in smuggled US currency and $4.3m in other assets. Its work resulted in 21 searches, 12 arrests and four indictments.

SAAR network raid

Its most spectacular operation of was March 20, 2002 raid 19 interrelated business and non-profit entities in

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, VA associated with an umbrella corporation known as the

SAAR Foundation The SAAR Foundation was a flagship corporation representing charities, think tanks, and business entities. SAAR was named after its founder, Saudi patriarch Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi, a man close to the Saudi ruling family and on the Golden Chai ...

. No arrests were made and no organizations were shut down, but over 500 boxes of files and computer files were confiscated, filling seven trucks. Finding no incriminating evidence, much of the confiscated material has been returned. The raid raised concerns of unfair persecution within the American Muslim community, leading to an April 4, 2002 meeting in which several notable Muslim figures, including Palestinian-American financier and Republican organizer Talat M. Othman and

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head

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were received by Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill as representatives of the Muslim-American community to voice complaints about the raid.

Operation Green Quest disbanded

As a result of conflicts between the FBI and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (the successor agency to Customs), in May 2003 the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security signed an agreement concerning terrorist financing investigations. In it, DHS acknowledged that the Department of Justice, through the FBI, was the lead agency in the fight against terrorist financing, and that any terrorist financing investigations would have to be conducted under the auspices of the FBI-led

Joint Terrorism Task Force In the United States, the Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) are locally-based multi-agency partnerships between various federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies tasked with investigating terrorism and terrorism-related crimes, led by the ...

. DHS also agreed to disband Operation Green Quest by June of that year, and not to start any investigations into terrorism or terrorist financing without the permission of the FBI.

References

{{reflist

External links

* U.S. Governmen
Press release on Operation Green Quest
reproduced at Yale's Avalon Project * CBS News
Feds launch 'Operation Green Quest'
October 25, 2001
Customs Service brochure on Operation Green Quest
United States Department of Homeland Security

Synopsis

SAAR network raid

Operation Green Quest disbanded

See also

References

External links