"In our increasingly networked world, multinational cooperation is critical to combating transnational criminal activity," DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Friday.

The transnational criminal activity Secretary Napolitano was referring to was the smuggling of illicit cash, for decades a mainstay in the financing of terrorist activity, and the focus of a global effort involving more than 80 countries called Operation ATLAS (an acronym for Assess, Target, Link, Analyze and Share). Operation ATLAS, a five day operation undertaken in late October by DHS' US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in close collaboration with fellow DHS component US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) led to more than $3.5 million in cash seized and the identification of $24 million in undeclared currency that may have otherwise gone undetected at ports of entry around the world during the five-day period between October 26 and 30.