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Project Cassandra

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For a project aimed to use literature as "a tool for early crisis detection", see Project Cassandra (literature).

Project Cassandra was an overall effort led by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to undercut Hezbollah funding from illicit drug sources in South America.[1] The effort had two other investigation running simultaneously: Project Cedar and Project Titan.[2] Launched in 2008, Project Cassandra was investigating the terrorist organization's funding.[3][4] The DEA, Eurojust, and Europol found that Hezbollah was increasingly involved with drug trafficking and organized crime as a method of funding its activities.[5][6] The investigation was tracking how hundreds of millions of dollars were being laundered from North America through Europe and West Africa to Lebanon and into Hezbollah's coffers.[7]

"Members of Hezbollah established business relationships with South American drug cartels responsible for supplying large quantities of cocaine to the European and United States drug markets. An intricate network of money couriers collect and transport millions of euros in drug proceeds from Europe to the Middle East. The currency is then paid in Colombia to drug traffickers using the Hawala disbursement system. A large portion of the drug proceeds is laundered through Lebanon [facilitated by the now-defunct Lebanese Canadian Bank and other Lebanese nationals], where it is then used for the benefit of Hezbollah to purchase weapons."[8][6]

Josh Meyer's investigative report, published by Politico in December 2017, described how, during the Obama administration, concerns regarding the Iran nuclear deal took precedence over the DEA project.[3][4] This caused Project Cassandra to be halted, as it was approaching the upper echelons of Hezbollah's conspiracy, in order to seal a nuclear deal with Iran, even though Hezbollah was still funneling cocaine into the United States.[9][4] In his report, Meyer cited former Obama administration Treasury official Katherine Bauer, who testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in February 2017 that certain law enforcement efforts against Hezbollah had been constrained by policy decisions related to Iran.[10] In December 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review of prior cases,[11][12] which was followed in January 2018 by the establishment of the Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team (HFNT) at the Department of Justice.[13] The team was tasked with reexamining investigations from the DEA’s 2008–2017 efforts targeting Hezbollah's drug trafficking and financial networks, including cases stemming from Project Cassandra.[13] However, this yielded only modest outcomes.[14]

See also

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External references

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  • Hezbollah, l'enquête interdite[15]

References

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  1. ^ "Report: Obama's White House Went Easy on Hezbollah to Appease Iran". The Daily Beast. 18 December 2017. Archived from the original on 2 May 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  2. ^ Levitt, Matthew (2022). "Episode 6: Operation Cedar Hezbollah Narco-Money Laundering". The Washington Institute.
  3. ^ a b Josh Meyer. "The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook". politico.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-17. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
  4. ^ a b c Ottolenghi, Emanuele (1 July 2021). "The Laundromat: Hezbollah's Money-Laundering and Drug-Trafficking Networks in Latin America". JSTOR. Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. pp. 43–47. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  5. ^ "DEA targets Hezbollah's cash flow link to cartels". cbsnews.com. 3 February 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
  6. ^ a b "DEA And European Authorities Uncover Massive Hizballah Drug And Money Laundering Scheme". www.dea.gov. 1 February 2016. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  7. ^ "Attacking Hezbollah's Financial Network: Policy Options" JUNE 8, 2017 STATEMENT OF DEREK S. MALTZ INTRODUCTION
  8. ^ "Treasury Identifies Lebanese Canadian Bank Sal as a "Primary Money Laundering Concern"". U.S. Department of the Treasury. 10 February 2011. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Hezbollah Smuggled Tons of Cocaine into the U.S. During Obama Administration, Report Reveals". newsweek.com. 18 December 2017. Archived from the original on 2019-12-30. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  10. ^ "Katherine Bauer Testimony to House Committee on Foreign Affairs: Iran on Notice". 16 February 2017. p. 6. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  11. ^ Hacohen, Hagay and Wilner, Michael. (23 December 2017). "Sessions Orders a Review of Project Cassandra". Jerusalem Post website Archived December 25, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  12. ^ "Sessions wants review of Obama-era Hezbollah investigations". The Washington Post. Associated Press. 22 December 2017. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  13. ^ a b "Attorney General Sessions Announces Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team". United States Department of Justice. 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  14. ^ Kleinman, Danielle (2021-01-14). "Hezbollah's Global Threat". FDD. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  15. ^ Hezbollah, l'enquête interdite (Documentary), Jack Kelly, Magneto Presse, 2023-02-05, retrieved 2025-01-05{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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