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September 11, 2001 : Attack on America
Treasury Undersecretary Gurule's Remarks at the Launch of "Operation Green Quest"; October 25, 2001


FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2001
PO-728

UNDERSECRETARY GURULE'S REMARKS
AT THE LAUNCH OF "OPERATION GREEN QUEST"

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Thank you for that kind introduction.

I am proud to join Deputy Secretary Dam and Customs Commission Bonner to announce "Operation Green Quest" - the NEWEST enforcement tool that Treasury, the nation's oldest law enforcement agency, will put to use in the war against terrorist financing.

It was just a few weeks ago that President Bush outlined our multi-faceted war against the Al-Qaida terrorist network. The President declared that "that starving the terrorists of funding" would be a primary objective of our war on terrorism.

The new war is a conflict "without battlefields and beachheads." In fact the first shot in this new war was fired from Treasury, in the form of the Executive Order freezing terrorist Assets.

To support the Administration's Financial War on Terrorism, we have created this Anti-Terrorist Financing Task Force, named "Operation Green Quest."

It employs Enforcement's complement of investigative assets along with the Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center's intelligence analysis to identify, disrupt, dismantle and ultimately "bankrupt" terrorist networks and their sources of funding.

Operation Green Quest's organization will maximize Treasury's investigative tools while permitting liaison and partnership with federal agencies and foreign countries to facilitate the widest range of effective actions against terrorists and their financiers, ranging from blocking bank accounts and freezing assets to federal criminal prosecution.

Let me take a moment to state clearly the goals of this initiative, and those goals are to:

  • Identify, disrupt, and dismantle the financial operations of charities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) associated with Usama Bin Laden (UBL) and al Qaida.


  • Identify, disrupt, and dismantle the financial operations of terrorist organizations beyond al Qaida.


  • Identify, infiltrate, and ultimately dismantle hawalas and other underground remittance systems used to provide funds to UBL, al Qaida, and other terrorist organizations.


  • Develop individual and group targets for analysis by the Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center (FTAT).


  • Take preventative action by providing requesting nations technical assistance and support to requesting countries to identify accounts linked to terrorist networks.


  • With that, I am delighted to introduce XXXXX



    Source:
    U.S. Government Website

    September 11 Page

    127 Wall Street, New Haven, CT 06511.