Source: US FBI
Nationwide Initiative Targets Criminal Organizations
The FBI Dallas Field Office is participating in the first-of-its-kind Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF), which coordinates law enforcement efforts nationwide to crush violent crime. The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations are leading efforts to target sophisticated cartels, foreign terrorist organizations, and transnational gangs whose list of crimes include homicide, kidnapping, human trafficking, extortion, and smuggling drugs across our borders.
The Dallas HSTF brings together federal, state, and local law enforcement in a co-located and co-mingled setting that fosters communication and collaboration. The local Dallas task force is unique because it is co-led by FBI Dallas and HSI Dallas with strong support from DEA Dallas.
The Dallas HSTF’s mission is to establish permanent, multi-agency teams that conduct intelligence-driven operations to identify and target transnational criminal organizations and foreign terrorist organizations engaged in diverse criminal schemes across North Texas and the State of Oklahoma. The expanded intelligence community support and assistance from federal, state and local law enforcement partners, allows the Dallas HSTF to focus efforts and resources on high-impact investigations targeting the leadership, financial networks, and logistical infrastructure of transnational criminal organizations and foreign terrorist organizations, both locally and globally.
“This partnership allows us to extend our reach, share intelligence in real time, and effectively target the threats posed by these groups in the North Texas and Oklahoma region,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock.
“As transnational criminal organizations, foreign terrorist organizations, and drug cartels become more sophisticated using transformative technologies like A.I. to identify and exploit potential weaknesses in our nation’s defenses, it’s more important than ever that the law enforcement community band together to defend the homeland from any type of threat that might arise,” said HSI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard. “By establishing this permanently integrated multi-agency task force to share intelligence and maximize interoperability, we will be better postured to prevent deadly narcotics from making it to our communities, bring an end to the scourge of human trafficking, eliminate the cross-border movement of illegal firearms and criminal proceeds, and hold drug traffickers, terrorists and other bad actors accountable.”
“The DEA Dallas Division is proud to join our federal, state, and local partners as part of the Homeland Security Task Force,” said DEA Dallas Special Agent in Charge, Joseph B. Tucker. “This collaboration strengthens our ability to disrupt and dismantle criminal networks that threaten our communities, and embodies our shared commitment to cooperation, vigilance, and the protection of the public we serve.”
The Homeland Security Task Forces rally dozens of federal agencies as well as state and local partners across 50 states and territories.
Through a unified framework, the HSTF will serve as a model for protecting the homeland from evolving threats, safeguarding critical infrastructure, and enhancing national resilience.