Where Are They ?
 

I wonder how many of those containers with triggers are still in the possession of ?

I never saw one out of the shipping container. My first gig on Oki once my Secret came through was guarding two EOD guys in bomb suits much like the one used today by LEOs. Turns out that they were training to disarm a Davy Crockett. (I didn't know what it was at the time.) It was mid to late May and I had rolled-up sleeves. They had small tubes at the end of their "sleeves" and "cuffs". Water was running out of them like crazy. We were there a long time. ;)

I ran the CTF as well as the Counter Narcoterrorism and Counter Transnational Organized Crime teams at SOCOM until I retired in Feb. We trained some SF Groups in CTF for specific deployments. We trained the 18s and well as the Intel folks. The best folks I saw that could do the mission were the 18s followed by the SEALs, they immediately saw the nexus and how they could identify the bad guy's sourcing. The reason they are so good is their nonconventional background and thinking (nonlinear). Intel folks tend to think in the linear, A then B then C then D, and get confused when it goes in vastly different directions.

Ah, the stories I can't tell...

Joker (or any others), would you happen to know where I could track down case studies or other reading material about how financial intelligence translates to action on the ground, and/or vice versa? I've found books like "Harpoon" to be informative along those lines. Would be especially interested in anything in the context of SF Groups but understand if that's reaching too far. Just hoping to uncover any stories you can tell.

The DEA's Targeting of Hezbollah's Global Criminal Support Network | The Washington Institute

Money Laundering at Lebanese Bank With Ties to Hezbollah - Graphic - NYTimes.com

Lebanese Bank Is Accused of Money Laundering - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Beirut Bank Seen as a Hub of Hezbollah’s Financing - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Also search for Robert Mazur.

Everything we did was working with law enforcement. What the Groups did, they did.

I can't imagine teams needing this at all. These skills are needed at banks and other financial institutions. It's Treasury, not DOD.

The banks already have these sections built in, to varying degrees. Treasury to an extent (FinCEN) as well as the federal LEAs do investigations. SOF has used it to identify when IEDs were going to be employed (up-tick in $$) and ultimately rolling up the IED cell. There are other instances too.

Treasury has the responsibility for sanctions and financial designations.
State has the responsibility for demarches and terrorist designations.
FBI has the responsibility for funding of terrorism.
HSI has the responsibility for bulk shipment of cash.
DEA has the responsibility for drug, and drug nexus to terrorism, money.
DOD has the responsibility for CTF in a conflict area.

Thanks for this. This is really interesting stuff to dig through. One of the things that keeps standing out reading through this is the idea of the "convergence" of actors and threats (and also the convergence of resources to combat them).

"Of the sixty-eight groups designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the State Department, the DEA has linked twenty-five of them to the drug trade"

Colombian cartels > Hezbollah > IRGC > Syria/Assad > Iran > etc...

From the very limited perspective of the seat I sit in, I'm interpreting that as having something to do with what you're saying about why the non conventional background of "18s" could be of particular advantage here.

^^^ yes.

Don't even get me started on how the drug trade into Europe from South America via Africa fuels terrorism. The nexus between terrorism and criminal activity is well known. Hell, a group formerly run by MBM (took a bunch of French and other hostages in Algeria years ago) was actually called the "Cocaine Jihadists."

I could rant- but will not do so in this venue. Also- your statement about State and DEA indicates a level of information potentially not available to end users or higher customers in the form of fused analysis. It would be worth your time to reach out and forge those connections.

Makes sense. In light of the below breakdown I can certainly see how those connections would be valuable. I also think civilians in certain roles could and do benefit from that type of fused understanding, eg a bank compliance officer. It's too easy to get tunnel vision and forget (or miss altogether) the context you're working under which, I think, results in missed opportunities.