John Fernandez: The DEA's Targeting of Hezbollah's Global Criminal Support Network

The well-established convergence between drug trafficking and terrorism, coupled with the U.S. attorney-general's designation of Lebanese Hezbollah as a priority Transnational Criminal Organization, have given the Drug Enforcement Administration a crucial role to play in targeting the group's criminal support network. DEA efforts against Hezbollah drug and arms traffickers, money launderers, narco-terrorists, sanctions violators, and other criminals seek to remove drug-terror convergence actors from the playing field and impede the flow of criminal revenue to the group. To discuss the DEA's approach to countering Hezbollah's logistics, procurement, and revenue network, The Washington Institute hosted a Policy Forum with John Fernandez n January 9, 2020.
John Fernandez is the DEA's assistant special agent in charge of the Special Operations Division's Counter-Narcoterrorism Operations Center, in which role he oversees interagency support to field investigations concerning Hezbollah's global criminal support network. Previously, he worked for two years as a staff coordinator for the center. He has also worked for the DEA's San Jose, Madrid, and Los Angeles offices, and as an intelligence analyst with the CIA's Africa and Latin America division.