 The project was first proposed by the Director of the Foreign Economic Administration (FEA), Leo T. Crowley on May 5th 1944 in a letter to the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr. Then on the 15th of May in a letter to Livingston T. Merchant , the FEA suggested an interagency program, collaborating with the British and other US agencies with a vested interest in the aims of the program to locate and intercept the transfer of German assets into neutral nations.In the letters, Leo T.Crowley, director of the Foreign Economic Administration, proposed an active investigation take place to identify the extent to which German assets were being moved to neutral nations.Samuel Klaus, special assistant to the Treasury Departments Special Counsel, led an information-gathering trip to Europe to examine the situation in neutral nations  Klaus and his associates travelled to Lisbon, Stockholm, London and other countries in Europe advocating for the adoption of the programs aims.