Homeland Security Task Forces Target Transnational Organized Crime On U.S. Soil: FBI, Homeland Security Investigations Co-Leading New Initiative To Crush Violent Crime

The FBI released information about their transnational criminal organizations task force with Homeland Security Investigations:

The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations—the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security—have implemented a new task force model aimed at rooting out violent crime committed by foreign gangs, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations impacting the United States. 

These new teams, known as Homeland Security Task Forces, bring together FBI and HSI personnel—as well as task force officers from local, state, and federal partner agencies—to investigate transnational organized crime activity such as drug trafficking and human trafficking that occurs across all 50 states, the nation’s capital, and Puerto Rico.  

"Transnational organized crime is a complex and constantly-evolving threat—and it demands an equally sophisticated and agile response," said FBI Director Kash Patel. "Homeland Security Task Forces are at the forefront of the U.S. government's fight to keep the tentacles of international gang, cartel, and transnational criminal organization activity from reaching our shores and victimizing innocent Americans. The FBI is proud to be leading this charge alongside Homeland Security Investigations and our state, local, and federal interagency partners in support of President Trump's executive order and of Attorney General Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Noem's collective vision for these specialized squads. Together, we'll continue to disrupt and dismantle these foreign terrorist organizations, bring their members and collaborators to justice, and restore law and order in our communities. Let's get after it.” 

You can read a Q&A about the task force via the link below:

Homeland Security Task Forces Target Transnational Organized Crime on U.S. Soil — FBI 

Marshall Center, Law Enforcement Leaders Discuss Counter-Crime Strategies

Christine June at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies offers the below piece:

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, April 25, 2018 -- Almost 100 mid- to top-level law enforcement specialists and parliamentarians from 52 nations have a better understanding of the strategic-level approaches needed to counter transnational criminal organizations when they return home April 28.

They are heading home after completing the three-plus week Program on Countering Transnational Organized Crime at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies here. The Marshall Center is a German-American partnership that has produced generations of global security professionals for the past 25 years.

‘Make a Difference’

Held twice a year, CTOC is designed for government officials and practitioners who are engaged in policy development, law enforcement, intelligence and interdiction activities aimed at countering narcotics trafficking, terrorist involvement in criminal activity and the associated elements of transnational crime and corruption.

“We focus on strategy and policy development because we are preparing participants for their future jobs,” said Professor Joe Vann, CTOC director. “We want them to think about their ‘job after next,’ and not their current position.

Vann added, “We want them to go home, be good at their jobs and get promoted -- not just to the next step but to the higher step, because we want them to be leaders in their countries and make a positive difference in the fight against transnational organized crime.”

Globalized Response

In 2014, the Marshall Center was designated by the Defense Department as a Center of Excellence for Transnational Security Studies, due to its countering organized crime program, as well as its courses on countering terrorism and cybersecurity.

“Unlike national or regional studies of crime, we hope to take our participants to a higher level of international cooperation,” Vann said. “An increasingly globalized problem requires a more precise and comprehensive globalized response.”

He added, “We need to enable our participants to think ‘out of the box,’ develop their critical thinking skills that evolve, and apply new concepts and best practices. We need to appreciate the value of incorporating local and international knowledge and expertise to our broader strategies and policies.”

Khatia Dekanoidze, an adjunct professor for this iteration of CTOC, said the Marshall Center is the place to build global partnerships. Dekanoidze served as the first female chief of the Ukrainian National Police, where until November 2016 she directed more than 100,000 officers. During her tenure as chief of police, she was a guest lecturer at CTOC, and this is her second time as an adjunct professor for this program.

“You see so many people here who are part of the law enforcement services all around the world, and who tackle problems every day just like you,” she said. “They share their experiences, knowledge, concerns and problems with each other, and that’s how law enforcement and global partnerships start with ordinary people who really have to tackle the problems that are so familiar for us.”

‘Work for Your Country’

Participants represented military and civilian sectors of their governments a wide spectrum in seniority and experience.

“This is something that we strive for at the Marshall Center,” Vann said. “With the right mix of professions and experiences, we can create an environment where they can share their knowledge and experiences with their colleagues. They can think hard and discuss innovative ways to solve challenges through collaboration and cooperation.”

Course participants heard from faculty and invited subject-matter experts experienced in different areas of combatting transnational organized crime. In-depth discussions focused on a range of topics, including narcotics trafficking, human smuggling, weapons trafficking, cybercrime and money laundering.

“We learned a lot from these professionals because they talked about how to go about doing things,” said Judge Gillian Lucky, from the Supreme Court in Trinidad and Tobago. “This course not only gives you the theory, but also helps you to put it into practice. You learn what is working in other agencies and countries, and how you can make it work for your country.”

Discussing Strategy, Policy Development

Each of these topics touched on strategy and policy development, Vann said.

“Strategy is one of the most important things I learned here,” said Kylly Fernandes, a prosecutor with the Ministry of State for Reforms and Public Administration in Cabo Verde. “I had some information about strategy before I came here, but I have since learned it was not enough and not good enough. I am not an expert now, but I can tell you that I am more prepared to do a strategy, and I know exactly what a strategy is supposed to do.”

Lucky and Fernandes said they have ideas for strategies regarding transnational organized crime and how to implement a more of a whole-of-government approach in their countries. The judge and prosecutor said that they will share their ideas with their supervisors.

“Now we are challenged to do it,” said Fernandes, who has 17years’ experience as a prosecutor. “I will make a report, and one of my recommendations will be a strategy for terrorism and transnational crime. We need to work on that, and I will really try to convince them that we need this strategy for Cabo Verde and to add all the agencies to work on it and be a part of it.”

Creating Positive Changes

Lucky is not only a judge, but she is also a lecturer at the police academy in Trinidad and Tobago. She said the knowledge of strategy she learned in CTOC will help her when she is presiding over cases and when she is lecturing to law enforcement officers on topics from intelligent investigations to successful prosecutions.

“I will go back to Trinidad and Tobago very hopeful that I can create positive changes in the areas in which I operate,” Lucky said. “And in the areas that I don’t operate, I can motivate others with the knowledge I now have so they can use my knowledge in their particular fields of operation.”

She added, “We will work together to move Trinidad and Tobago forward.”

Note: In the above Marshall Center photo taken by Karl-Heinz Wedhorn Khatia Dekanoidze, adjunct professor of the Program on Countering Transnational Organized Crime at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, discusses anticorruption reforms and state building before 92 participants from 52 countries attending the center’s CTOC course in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on April 17 2018. Dekanoidze served as the first female chief of the Ukrainian National Police, where she directed more than 100,000 officers until November 2016.

Smuggling By International Crime Syndicates Is What Keeps Homeland Security Chief Up At Night

David Sherfinski and Stephen Dinan at the Washington Times offer a piece on Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly (seen in the above official photo) and his concern over transnational criminal organizations.

Smuggling cartels are now a major threat to the fabric of American society, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly declared Tuesday, saying the international crime syndicates have shown an incredible ability to sneak drugs and people — and potentially terrorists and dirty bombs — into the U.S.

Mr. Kelly, a former Marine Corps general who is three months into his tenure as secretary, said among all the other dangers facing Americans, the threat from the cartels, known in the security world as “transnational criminal organizations” is what keeps him up at night.

He said the Trump administration has already notched some victories over the criminal networks, including cutting the level of illegal immigration across the southwestern border by a staggering 70 percent. But he said the amount of drugs has increased and that the smuggling cartels share ties with the terrorist networks that the U.S. is fighting overseas.

“We know, as an example, that the money-laundering of massive amounts of profit from the U.S. drug demand — there are terrorist organizations that make money from that money-laundering process,” he said. “It’s an incredibly lucrative way to raise money. They’re not doing it in huge amounts yet, I don’t believe. But to me, it would be a next step. So the nexus between criminal networks and terrorist networks is real, and, I would predict, will get more sophisticated.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/18/john-kelly-smuggling-cartels-major-threat/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWWpWaVptVmlZams0TkRabCIsInQiOiJOc1VSdkl4UUJjcWJcL0E4WWNTSWxWT0ErUkdIcHo0cDJmUUEwRUtIblwvNmpoek5TQWV6WHpER2c0ZXI0Q2JZOXN5Ulg4UmtvU0k1NnMzQWp0WG1ZeGEwTEtPbFVFTFNraGlwMEdLKysxT0hhbFFXdjQzOEtwcE44djJuRnpHM0lHIn0%3D 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions On Organized Crime And MS-13

The U.S. Justice Department released the below prepared remarks of Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the meeting of the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Council and OCDETF Executive Committee on April 18, 2017:

I want to thank the Organized Crime Council for convening today as they have done since 1970. We represent law enforcement from across the government: FBI; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Secret Service; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; U.S. Coast Guard; IRS; Labor Department; State Department; U.S. Postal Service; and the director of our Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). This is the federal team, but we all know well that we have essential partners and leaders in our state and local offices. This can only be done together.

In February, President Trump issued an executive order to us to interdict and dismantle transnational criminal organizations, and today we’ll be proposing concrete ideas to follow through on President Trump’s directive.

So let me state this clearly. Under President Trump, the Justice Department has zero tolerance for gang violence. Transnational criminal organizations like MS-13 represent one of the gravest threats to American safety.  These organizations enrich themselves by pedaling poison in our communities, trafficking children for sexual exploitation and inflicting horrific violence in the communities where they operate. 

MS-13 has become a symbol of this plague that has spread across our country and into our communities.  There are over 30,000 members abroad with their headquarters in the El Salvadoran prison system.  According to the National Gang Intelligence Center, MS-13 now has more than 10,000 members in at least 40 states in this country – up significantly from just a few years ago. 

Because of an open border and years of lax immigration enforcement, MS-13 has been sending both recruiters and members to regenerate gangs that previously had been decimated, and smuggling members across the border as unaccompanied minors.  They are not content to simply ruin the lives of adults – MS-13 recruits in our high schools, our middle schools and even our elementary schools.

Just a few days ago, law enforcement believes that members of MS-13 murdered four young men and dumped their bodies in a park on Long Island.  Last month, it was two teenage girls in Los Angeles who were killed with machetes and baseball bats.  A few weeks ago, the FBI added an MS-13 member to their Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List for a suspected brutal murder with a baseball bat and screwdriver – all purportedly to earn his MS-13 tattoo.  Violence is an initiation rite. They’ve killed mothers alongside their children and vice versa.  They have gang raped and trafficked girls as young as 12 years old. 

We cannot allow this to continue.  We will secure our border, expand immigration enforcement and choke-off supply lines.  If you are a gang member: We will find you.  We will devastate your networks.  We will starve your revenue sources, deplete your ranks and seize your profits.  We will not concede a single block or street corner to your vicious tactics.

We recognize this will not be easy.  But the organizations here worked together to take down the Mafia and the Colombian cartels.  We can do it again.  It will require a commitment from not only all federal, state and local law enforcement, but from everyday Americans who refuse to allow the current gang violence to be the status quo any longer.

Let me add: Sanctuary cities dangerously undermine this process.  Harboring criminal aliens only helps violent gangs like MS13.  Sanctuary Cities are aiding these cartels to refill their ranks and putting innocent life – including the lives of countless law-abiding immigrants – in danger.

Today is just the beginning.  There will be much more in the coming weeks and months as we seek to eradicate these transnational criminal organizations. Under the Trump Administration and this Department of Justice, there will be no safe quarter for gangs and those that support them.   

FBI: Combating The Growing Money Laundering Threat - Specialized FBI Unit Focuses On Disrupting Professional Money Launderers

The FBI released the below information:

Every year, more than $300 billion in concealed transactions is moved around the United States, according to a U.S. Department of the Treasury report on money laundering and terrorist financing threats.

Transnational criminal organizations, foreign intelligence services, and terrorist groups—as well as Internet fraudsters and other criminals—move billions of dollars each year through the international banking system and across borders to conceal the origin of the funds. To more effectively address the threat, the FBI has placed a renewed emphasis on investigations that target the middlemen who facilitate the hidden flow of cash.

“Our focus is on third-party facilitators,” said James Barnacle, who heads the FBI’s Money Laundering Unit. “They include, among others, lawyers, accountants, and brokers with the ability to facilitate the process of moving money for dangerous criminal organizations. That’s who our targets are.”

  

 The facilitators use traditional and non-traditional means to launder staggering amounts of illicit proceeds every year. Barnacle said business e-mail compromise, or BEC, scams and the use of virtual currencies are on the rise

To help combat this growing threat, the FBI has been adding resources to its Money Laundering Unit in the Criminal Investigative Division. The team has been intensifying its efforts to support existing investigations and to identify and investigate previously unknown facilitators. It works alongside other Bureau divisions, including Counterintelligence and Cyber, to analyze criminal networks and to disrupt their operations. The team also provides guidance and training and works with domestic and foreign law enforcement partners to develop initiatives that support investigations in the FBI’s 56 field offices.

Innovations in technology have made it easier for launderers to communicate anonymously and move money, making it more challenging to identify, investigate, and prosecute launderers, who shield a staggering amount of money in their varied illegal transactions. These types of crimes often come to light through tips from within the private sector or the general public.

“One of the tools we use to combat money laundering is the Internet Crime Complaint Center website, or IC3.gov,” said Barnacle. “We encourage victims of fraud to submit a report on the IC3.gov site as soon as possible. It’s a tremendous asset for our team.”

One of the Money Laundering Unit’s most critical partnerships is with the private sector, where financial institutions face significant risks and are required to have robust anti-money laundering policies and procedures.

“The relationship we have with private industry is just as important as the partnerships we have with other government agencies and regulators,” said Barnacle. “Our mission would not succeed without our partnership with the private sector.”

“Our mission would not succeed without our partnership with the private sector.”

James Barnacle, chief, Money Laundering Unit

What is Money Laundering?

Money laundering is the process by which criminals conceal or disguise their proceeds and make them appear to have come from legitimate sources.

Money laundering allows criminals to hide and accumulate wealth, avoid prosecution, evade taxes, increase profits through reinvestment, and fund further criminal activity.

While many definitions for money laundering exist, it can be defined very simply as turning “dirty” money into “clean” money. And it’s a significant crime—money laundering can undermine the integrity and stability of financial institutions and systems, discourage foreign investment, and distort international capital flows.

The FBI focuses its efforts on money laundering facilitation, targeting professional money launderers, key facilitators, gatekeepers, and complicit financial institutions, among others.