Upon the conclusion of our investigations, ELI prepares a Confidential Intelligence Brief (CIB) to share with relevant law enforcement bodies at national, regional, and international levels, depending on the nature of intelligence and which agencies are well-positioned to take effective action.
The CIB is arguably the most important piece of output from our intelligence and investigative activities. It is the CIB that provides law enforcement and government authorities the means by which to take immediate action. That action may include additional investigations, arrests and prosecution of environmental criminals, international traffickers, money launderers, and even improvement of policy and enforcement activities.
The CIB contains information and Actionable Intelligence that is not included in the public reports. This includes full names, addresses, and contact information (as available) for each Person of Interest (POI), as well as in-depth descriptions of their businesses, illegal activity, financial movements, and network connections, including video and audio recordings. It also includes information on Crime Convergence, such as money laundering, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and corruption.
We share CIBs also during field activities if a time-sensitive situation demands it. Operations aimed at dismantling trafficking networks or arresting key targets can be launched anytime during our field projects.
Once all sensitive information has been dealt with, ELI often produces a separate Public Report that explains the background for the investigation and presents the main findings. These reports are often used and republished by the media.
It is important to note that ELI does not always release media briefings in relation to our operations, the work of government partners, and arrests, as doing so would jeopardize the safety of our teams in the field, law enforcement operations, and future investigations.
With our CIBs and Public Reports we:
- provide actionable/usable intelligence and evidence to law enforcement and goverment agencies, so they can disrupt criminal and trafficking networks, and hold perpetrators accountable;
- provide the information NGOs need to more effectively tailor and target advocacy campaigns;
- provide data to policy makers that will help build political will and trigger the necessary policy changes at national and international levels
In the U.S. we routinely collaborate with U.S. Homeland Security/HSI, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, NOAA, and other government agencies. These collaborations led to important arrests in the United States.
Abroad we have been collaborating and sharing information with public prosecutors and authorities in Mexico, Bolivia, The Netherlands, Thailand, Vietnam, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, among others. Most of these collaborations led new investigations and significant arrests.
