were in the composition of those ieds. so our concern was that u.s. parts were being used against our military personnel. maiming and killing young men. we had to put a stop to that. >> i was an agent assigned to the sac philadelphia hsi office. homeland security investigations is the second largest federal agency in the government. we're located within the department of homeland security, and we're charged with investigating elicit trade, travel and finance. we were focused on arms and on control technology being exported out of the united states. >> the impetus for this operation did not originate at a high governmental level. at the department of justice level there was no funding to do this kind of case. the idea really was coming from the local agents.