Showing posts with label TRANSNATIONAL CRIME. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TRANSNATIONAL CRIME. Show all posts

Saturday, March 14, 2015

NORAD COMMANDER TESTIFIES ABOUT THREATS TO U.S. HOMELAND

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT  

Right:  Navy Adm. William E. Gortney assumed command of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command from Army Gen. Charles Jacoby Jr. in a change-of-command ceremony Dec. 5, 2014, at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. Air Force file photo.  

Northcom Chief Discusses Threats to Homeland
By Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2015 – The most dangerous threats to the U.S. homeland include transnational criminal networks, homegrown violent extremists and cyberattacks, Navy Adm. William E. Gortney told a Senate panel today.

The commander of U.S. Northern Command and of North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Northcom’s fiscal year 2016 budget request.
Addressing the panel, Gortney began with his assessment of threats in defense of the homeland, from the most likely to the most dangerous.

The likeliest threat, the admiral said, is a transnational criminal network that operates by using what he calls seams between Northcom, U.S. Southern Command and U.S Pacific Command; seams between U.S. interagency partners and the combatant commands; seams between the United States and its partner nations; and seams within those countries themselves.
Closing the Seams

“In those seams,” Gortney told the panel, “people are moving drugs [and] money. As the [committee] chairman said, they're moving product for profit through those seams.”

He added, “We need to close those seams, because … if someone wants to move something that will do great damage to our nation, that is where they will come.”
About homegrown violent extremists, the admiral described an effective and sophisticated social media campaign on the part of extremists, aiming to stir up distrust and incite harm to American citizens.

On the cyber threat, Gortney said his command is responsible for defending known networks and helping lead federal agencies in the aftermath of a cyberattack.

Significant Cyber Threat

“But it's far more significant in that a cyberattack [could] directly affect critical infrastructure that I rely on to defend the nation, and that we rely on for our nation to operate. I see that as a significant threat,” he said.

For example, Gortney said, “a cyberattack in Ottawa would take out the northeast quadrant of our air defense sector. It would effectively be a mission kill. So not only would it affect my ability to do my mission, more importantly we as a nation rely on this same infrastructure to operate -- whether it's banking, rail, aviation, power or movement of water.”

He added, “All these things have critical infrastructure that we must have, and they need to be hardened against an adversary.”

International threats to the homeland include North Korea, China, Russia and Iran, the admiral told the panel.

Ballistic Missile Threat

In written testimony, Gortney said the past year has marked a notable increase in Russian military assertiveness.

“Russian heavy bombers flew more out-of-area patrols in 2014 than in any year since the Cold War. We have also witnessed improved interoperability between Russian long-range aviation and other elements of the Russian military, including air and maritime intelligence collection platforms positioned to monitor NORAD responses,” the admiral said.

Such patrols serve a training function for Russian air crews, but some are clearly intended to underscore Moscow's global reach and communicate displeasure with Western policies, especially those involving Ukraine, he added.

Russia also is progressing toward its goal of deploying long-range,
conventionally armed cruise missiles with increasing stand-off launch distances on its heavy bombers, submarines and surface combatants, Gortney said.

Defending North America

“Should these trends continue,” the admiral said, “over time NORAD will face increased risk in our ability to defend North America against Russian air, maritime and cruise-missile threats.”

Other states that may seek to put North America at risk with ballistic missiles include North Korea and Iran, he said.

“North Korea has successfully test-detonated three nuclear devices,” the admiral said, “and through its space program has demonstrated many of the technologies required for an intercontinental ballistic missile that could target the continental United States.”

North Korean military parades have showcased the new KN08 road-mobile ICBM, he said, adding that when deployed, the system will complicate the U.S. ability to provide warning and defend against an attack.
The Sequestration Effect

“Iran has likewise committed considerable resources to enhancing its ballistic missile capabilities,” Gortney said, “and has already placed another satellite into orbit this year, using a new booster that could serve as a demonstrator for ICBM technologies.”

But Gortney told the panel that the likeliest and most dangerous threat to his ability to protect the homeland is sequestration.

“That’s because of how sequestration affects the … services as they implement the sequestration effect … which leads to a hollow force,” Gortney said, adding that sequestration slows development of the U.S. technological advantage that makes it possible to outpace future threats.

Slowing Missile Defense

Sequestration also would affect missile defense, the admiral said.

The services can generate some flexibility in spending by tapping into readiness funds or delaying delivery of a capability, but the Missile Defense Agency does not have a readiness account they can go to, he explained.

The agency would have to go to new starts, Gortney said, putting on hold the long-range discrimination radar, improvements to the advance kill vehicle and a multi-object kill vehicle -- all part of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System.
Holding up such work would hinder the United States’ ability to outpace the growing proliferation of ballistic missiles, he added.

The Arctic: Growing in Importance

Responding to questions about the Arctic, Gortney, who is assigned as the DoD advocate for Arctic capabilities, said he and his team are working to determine what requirements will help inform DoD operational plans on the future of the Arctic.

Gortney also will make recommendations for all of DoD, not just the services, about necessary investments there, he said.

“The Arctic requires advocacy and partnerships from within and outside the Northcom area of responsibility,” he said in written testimony, “as the region grows in importance to our national security over the next few decades.”

Saturday, February 21, 2015

INTERPOL SECRETARY GENERAL STOCK VISITS WASHINGTON OFFICE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

WASHINGTON, DC – On February 19, 2015, newly elected Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock visited the Interpol Washington office. While at the agency, Dr. Stock addressed Interpol Washington staff, highlighting the role effective information sharing can play via the world police body’s tools and resources and underscoring that the key to the organization’s strength lies in collaboration with Interpol’s 189 other member countries. Dr. Stock also emphasized the importance of defining Interpol’s core capabilities. After his remarks, the Secretary General toured the office, visiting with analysts in Interpol Washington’s 24/7 Interpol Operations and Command Center (IOCC) and meeting with Interpol Washington’s senior staff.

Prior to his visit at Interpol Washington, the Secretary General presented at a ministerial session during the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism. The meeting was organized by the U.S. Department of State and attended by Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General John Carlin. In his address, Dr. Stock underlined the effectiveness of Interpol’s Foreign Terrorist Fighter program to deter the movements of foreign fighters. The program represents the third pillar of President Barack Obama’s National Security Strategy and was lauded as a critical component in the fight against transnational crime in the United Nations’ Security Council Resolution 2178. The program has over 40 participating countries which share information on more than 1,500 suspected and confirmed fighters linked to Syria and Iraq. Foreign fighters may seek to travel with revoked passports, stolen or lost passports, or simply their own valid travel documents. In the first two cases, Interpol’s Stolen and Lost Travel Document database can make this information available at the frontlines. In cases where the individual’s valid passport information has been shared, Interpol global tools will generate hit alarms.

Friday, September 26, 2014

INTERPOL WASHINGTON ANNOUNCES FOREIGN TERRORIST PROGRAM INVOLVING INFORMATION SHARING

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Interpol Washington Spearheads Foreign Terrorist Fighter Program, Serves as Catalyst for Global Information Sharing Network

Interpol Washington today announced the formation of a dedicated Interpol Foreign Terrorist Fighter (FTF) program in partnership with the National Security Council (NSC), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The program leverages the unique resources Interpol utilizes to combat transnational crime, including its secure, encrypted communications system, its criminal and analytical databases and its system of advisory notices.  Through this program, Interpol will provide an unparalleled mechanism for addressing the threat from FTFs by helping to monitor and deter their international movement and interdict them at strategic entry points, where possible.  Composed of the National Central Bureaus (NCB) of more than 30 member countries, the program was established in response to the need for a forum for sharing intelligence and best practices on a global scale to combat the threat of foreign terrorist fighters traveling to Iraq and Syria.

“Interpol provides critical leadership in advancing the Justice Department’s efforts to combat terrorism and ensure the safety of all Americans – offering cutting-edge resources, a structure for international cooperation, and strategic tools like Red, Blue and Green Notices for tracing, targeting and apprehending terror suspects,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.  “In a world that is increasingly interdependent and interconnected, Interpol helps to defend against a range of evolving challenges by disseminating information, combating crime, and identifying potential threats.  And particularly today, with the emergence of groups like ISIL, and the knowledge that some Americans are attempting to travel to countries like Syria and Iraq to take part in ongoing conflicts, Interpol – as the world’s largest international police organization – has a vital role to play in safeguarding our homeland and protecting the American people.”

“The threat posed by foreign fighters is one that is persistent and requires the full cooperation and resources of the international law enforcement community to effectively combat," said Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson.  “We are already working closely with European and other governments to build better information sharing, and we will continue to leverage our partnership with the Interpol, Department of Justice and other international partners to make enhanced and concerted efforts to track foreign fighters who come from or seek to enter the United States.”

The program currently supports a working group that includes Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, and an international symposia—a multinational database populated with information contributed by and accessible to participating member countries.  The criminal intelligence information contained in the database includes detailed identity particulars that are especially valuable to law enforcement and border control authorities in making determinations of the terrorist threat posed by subjects located in, or attempting to enter, their respective jurisdictions.

Interpol Washington played a critical role in the program’s development and is taking the lead on implementing it in the United States by continuing to strategically use Interpol Red Notices to target and apprehend terrorists for prosecution in U.S. courts and Interpol Blue Notices to trace and locate terrorists and others suspected of terrorism-related activity, including those not charged with a particular offense.  Further, Interpol Washington is extensively utilizing Interpol Green Notices to publish information about hundreds of foreign nationals previously identified in both Iraq and Afghanistan and involved in terrorist activities. Interpol also offers countries the ability to use its information sharing system to send targeted messages to key partners on terrorist subjects.

“Interpol Washington continues to champion international police cooperation by leading U.S. efforts in the Interpol Foreign Terrorist Fighter program,” said Interpol Washington Director Shawn A. Bray.  “Interpol provides a unique set of information sharing solutions for addressing this growing threat.  By applying these solutions via its secure global communications network, Interpol member countries send a strong, unified message of engagement against FTFs and those who support them.”

Regional meetings, meetings of the heads of National Central Bureaus and the annual Interpol General Assembly represent additional opportunities for strengthening the FTF program.  Finally, Interpol works closely with the United Nations, particularly the Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, to publish Special Notices on individuals listed by the Sanctions Committee as belonging to or associated with al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Interpol Washington, a component of the DOJ and co-managed by the DHS, facilitates the sharing of criminal justice, humanitarian and public safety information among Interpol’s 190 member countries and more than 18,000 local, state, federal and tribal law enforcement agencies in the United States.  In coordinating international investigative efforts, Interpol Washington works to enhance the safety and security of our nation.

Friday, June 27, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS ON INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST DRUG ABUSE AND ILLICIT TRAFFICKING

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

On the Occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
June 26, 2014


This is more than a moment to focus on drug abuse and addiction. It’s a time to connect the dots between the global flow of illicit drugs, violence that destroys communities and even nations the world over, and 21st century challenges, from human trafficking to elephant poaching to transnational crime and corruption. In short: Illicit trafficking doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s part of a web of crime that threatens our security. It’s all connected.
I got my education on this insidious, connected network more than twenty years ago when I investigated and helped uncover a common international infrastructure for transnational crime, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. Drugs were at the very center. It was a wakeup call about the clandestine interconnected world of money launderers, drug traffickers, arms merchants, and terrorists. We witnessed just how dirty drug money and narcotics and corruption and violence flow together. It is no less true today. In fact, it is more true. We live in the age of narco-trafficking 2.0 that funds an underworld of evil.

These issues don’t stop at any border. That’s why the men and women of the State Department are on the front lines promoting citizen security in a vastly more complicated world where change is coming at us faster than ever before. We work with our partners to counter sophisticated supply chains that produce, distribute, and market illicit drugs and fuel transnational criminal organizations. And we are committed to sharing our experience and expertise with other countries wrestling with these challenges. Today of all days, we need to plot a national strategy to counter this global scourge.

Friday, June 20, 2014

DAVID M. LUNA ON IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL CRIME

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

How Criminal Entrepreneurs are Confiscating the Economic Potential of Communities and Corrupting Governments and the Integrity of Markets

Remarks
David M. Luna
Director for Anticrime Programs, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
UNICRI Impact of Organized Crime Workshop
Rome, Italy
June 16, 2014


Buon giorno!
On behalf of the United States, I would like to thank the Government of Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) for co-hosting this week’s workshop with the U.S. Department of State, and for our partnership on developing methodologies to identify strategies to measure and reduce the impact of transnational organized crime (TOC) on the legal economy.

The topics that we will be addressing are critically important to the international community as we work together to:
  • inform the public on the harms and impacts of organized crime;
  • strengthen cooperation to disrupt and dismantle illicit networks across borders, including through tracking illicit financial flows and identifying, freezing or seizing, and confiscating illicit assets;
  • ensure that the global illegal economy does not continue to expand at the expense of the legal one; and
  • safeguard tomorrow’s growth markets and investment frontiers so that they do not become corrupted by criminal entrepreneurs determined to further diversify their illicit portfolios and perpetuate criminal acivity.
The focus of this workshop is timely. Today’s reality across the global threat environment is one of convergence: where criminals and illicit traders are networked across borders and are continuously expanding their tentacles to all parts of the world, infiltrating public and market-based institutions alike.

The illicit activities of organized criminals threaten not only the interdependent commercial, transportation, and transactional systems that facilitate free trade and the movement of people throughout the global economy, but jeopardize governance structures, economic development, security, and supply chain integrity.

Of equal concern is their penetration into the fabric of our daily lives by capitalizing on our vulnerabilities, and through a variety of criminal schemes, including money laundering, reinvesting their criminally-derived proceeds to create parallel markets based on corruption and criminality, and hubs of fear.

Toxicity to Communities: TOC Impact on Public Health and Safety
Ladies and gentlemen, organized criminals are neither the noble protectors nor the business providers that they claim to be to the public.

How can they be, especially when they engage in unconscionable usury (“loan sharking”), extortion, bribery and corruption that continue to decay the foundations for resilient economies?
When they lend money to hard-working people at exorbitant interest rates and then resort to threats and violence to recoup their monies?

Moreover, when tens of thousands of small- and medium-sized companies and “mom and pop” businesses across Europe and elsewhere have to close their doors due to the high prevalence of usurious debt, this is harmful to both economic growth and market resiliency, as well as efforts by our families to improve their livelihoods, and those of their children.

When criminal syndicates engage in the illegal dumping of hazardous waste, it not only impacts our environment, it also imperils the health and safety of our children when such mafia toxic waste ends up in rivers, lakes, water wells, and farming lands that are poisoning agricultural crops. In essence, toxic water streams are now becoming toxic streams in people’s blood systems.

When organized crime perpetuates modern slavery and human trafficking including luring women and young girls to be physically exploited and abused, and forced to pay their bondage debts through prostitution and other forms of indentured work, it corrupts our human capital and dispirits the soul of our humanity.

No these are not “friends,” but rapacious and violent thugs whose greed and wealth is derived from drug addicts, the hard work of entrapped, exploited modern slaves, and the most vulnerable members of our communities: the sick, poor, desperate, and innocent.

Toxicity of TOC to the Licit Economy: Blood Money is Financing Booming Black Markets
In addition to harming the welfare of our people, transnational organized criminal networks are imperiling the global legal economy.

In his book Illicit, Moises Naim underscores how “global criminal activities are transforming the international system, upending the rules, creating new players, and reconfiguring power in international politics and economics.” Professors Louise Shelley, Ernesto Savona, Xavier Raufer, and others have similarly done pioneering research on today’s threat hybrids and new actors (“el dorados”) and their powerful economic influence across sectors and industries.
I agree with Naim and these distinguished criminologists: global criminal activities have transformed the system, changed the rules, and altered power dynamics across the globe. According to some estimates, the illegal economy accounts for 8 to 15 percent of world GDP, distorting local economies, diminishing legitimate business revenues, fueling conflict, and deteriorating social conditions in many of today global security “hot spots.”

A report by A.T. Kearney titled, “The Shadow Economy in Europe, 2013”, estimates the shadow economy in Europe at €2.15 trillion, which is 18.5 per cent of the total economy. Here in Italy, over the past 10 years, there have been numerous estimates placing the major Italian mafias’ market share at around 3 to 7 percent of Italy’s GDP. In fact, recently Italy’s national statistical service, Istat, decided that it was including the black market in its GDP calculations and illicit enterprises such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, prostitution, counterfeits, and other criminal activities.

Of particular significance are the specific sectors that they invest in, consolidate, and now control. Media reports have estimated that the major Italian organized crime families control about one in five business in Italy.

I earlier underscored how criminals have diversified their portfolios in areas, for example, such as narcotics and human trafficking, usury, and environmental crime. But irrespective of which illicit trade areas criminals gravitate to, when it comes time to reinvesting their profits, there are certain sectors that are equally very attractive for them to influence and control, including banking, real estate, tourism, fashion, and the arts, sports, and entertainment industries.
While some argue that injecting any capital, licit or illicit, into local economies can help some communities in times of financial austerity – especially when citizens perceive that their own governments have failed to provide good governance and basic services – I would assert that filthy lucre or blood money that corrupts markets is not a desirable business model in any situation.

It has been well reported how money from the sale of cocaine, heroin, and other drugs in illicit markets is reinvested in numerous sectors where laundering illicit proceeds, often paid in cash, is easy and undetected. Among the alluring choices for criminals to disguise and reinvest their illicit proceeds from drugs and other crimes and integrate them into the formal economy include construction and real estate. Flushed with cash, organized crime has invested heavily in snapping up bars, restaurants, supermarkets, shops, hotels, resorts and other high-end luxury developments.

This is why asset recovery is important to our discussion this week and how the international community can work together to identify and recover illicit assets. When criminals are deprived of the fruits of their criminal activity, their overall economic and corruptive power is reduced and we can further prevent the infiltration of criminal money into the legitimate economy.

TOC Toxicity to National Economic Security and Market Integrity
Let me say a few words on the damage that transnational organized crime can inflict on market integrity, entrepreneurial innovation, brand integrity, and legitimate private enterprise.
As we are keenly aware, another profitable area for criminals these days is counterfeiting and pirated goods, including wine and liquor, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, computers and electronics, and other products. Trafficking in counterfeit luxury and designer goods and accessories has become more profitable to organized crime than narcotics trafficking.
If one were to walk in some of our major cities, one could easily confront vendors selling some of these goods and others who are hawking designer bags, watches, eyewear, jewelry, footwear, and other luxury knockoffs, that have been counterfeited or smuggled by criminals across borders including such iconic brands such as GUCCI, Prada, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani, Polo, and others. Last year, I even learned that one could buy a fake Ferrari, with an unfashionable “turbocharged” Toyota Corolla engine. This is unfortunate because all over the world, smart consumers celebrate the real brands, trust their quality, and love their style.

Of course, the illegal economy and demand for fake handbags, shoes, perfumes, apparel and other luxury products make it harder for legitimate business to compete against these imported fake products. In these instances, illicit trade results in lost profits for companies, job displacements for workers, and with business closures, governments too are economically impacted as less revenue is brought into the treasuries to fund public services.
However, economic loss is not the only harm that results from fake goods. Companies also have to address the diminished integrity and market reputation of their venerable brands that they have worked hard to build and innovate upon over many years.

The same bad actors and networks who reinvest their blood money into the legal economy and who are undermining the good efforts of dedicated public servants and businesses to spur ethical, rule-of-law based markets and to broaden prosperity across communities—these bad actors and networks remain winners in the illegal economy.

We need to drain the swamp of criminality and cesspools of illicit activity that are corrupting our institutions, markets, and iconic brands.

We must not allow any further opportunities for criminal entrepreneurs to fill the role of governments and private enterprise as service providers in our societies nor allow their blood money to become the currency that sustains the global or local economy.

U.S. and International Efforts to Combat TOC and Illicit Trade
Finally, let me outline some of the efforts that the United States is undertaking to combat the threats posed by TOC, recover illicit assets, and shut down the illegal economy.
Recognizing the expanding size, scope, and influence of TOC and its impact on U.S. and international security and governance, in July 2011 the White House released the Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime: Addressing Converging Threats to National Security.

The Strategy calls on all departments and agencies to “build, balance, and integrate the tools of American power to combat transnational organized crime…and urge our foreign partners to do the same.”

The Strategy also calls for the U.S. government and our international partners to work together to combat transnational illicit networks, and take that fight to the next level by breaking their corruptive power, attacking their financial underpinnings, stripping them of their illicit wealth, and severing their access to the financial system.

The new TOCRP program complements the Narcotics Rewards Program by offering rewards up to $5 million for information on significant transnational criminal organizations involved in activities beyond drug trafficking, such as human trafficking, money laundering, trafficking in arms, counterfeits and pirated goods, and other illicit trade areas.

We anticipate that by rewarding informants who provide leads and tips that help hobble transnational criminal organizations, we can protect our citizens, economies, and homeland.
On the issue of how best to administer and dispose of confiscated illicit assets, our governments should strive to ensure that funds are disposed of in a manner that recognizes and compensates legitimate victims, addresses legitimate law enforcement needs, and promotes enhanced governmental transparency and accountability.

Italy has taken note of this goal, using confiscated assets from organized crime for numerous causes that support social good. In fact, confiscated properties have been used for social centers to help children, individuals with special needs, and for other communal functions that serve the public interest.

Efforts consistent with international standards as set forth in the FATF Recommendations and law enforcement cooperation within the frameworks of multilateral instruments such as the United Nations Conventions against Corruption (UNCAC) and Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) are used successfully by governments to facilitate mutual legal assistance and other forms of international cooperation, including the exchange of intelligence and information between law enforcement. These tools are also very effective in preventing criminals from acquiring and enjoying the fruits of their criminal activity.

Consistent with international standards and our treaty obligations, I believe that it is important for countries to have a strong legislative framework for effective detection and prevention of illicit financial activity and the means to identify illicit assets, freeze or seize, and confiscate the same. This would include implementation of powerful asset recovery tools such as non-conviction based forfeiture, which is key to overcoming common hurdles to asset recovery such as the death, flight, or immunity of an offender; mechanisms to ensure that identified assets are properly preserved and managed until a final confiscation judgment is obtained; and processes to ensure the transparent and responsible disposition of confiscated property.

At INL, through many of our anti-crime training programs, including our network of International Law Enforcement Academies, we are integrating aspects of asset recovery training in our projects and courses, and helping to improve the capacity of partners to undertake complex asset recovery investigations.

And of course diplomatically, we continue to strengthen international cooperation between U.S. law enforcement authorities with committed partners such as Italy and other G7 countries, international organizations including the European Union, the Council of Europe, UNODC, UNICRI, INTERPOL, the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, EUROPOL’s Camden Asset Recovery Interagency Network, the OECD Task Force on Charting Illicit Trade, and many others.

Converging against Criminal Entrepreneurs and Confiscating their Assets
In closing, convergence defines the global economy today. We live in a world in which legal business transactions and legitimate commerce both facilitate and feed off the illegal economy.
Crimes such as counterfeiting, human trafficking, money laundering and corruption are often interconnected, with profits from one illicit trade area used to advance further criminal complicity in other areas.

If we are not vigilant, the illegal economy presents an existential threat that we cannot afford to ignore.

But there is hope including in efforts such as the addiopizzo campaign in Palermo where citizens have mobilized to say that “enough is enough” can make a difference in our fight against organized crime and for communities to denounce their extorters. As the campaign rightly underscores: “As long as somebody continues to pay the pizzo, we will not be free.”
My hope is that by the end of tomorrow, we can have some good solutions to devise better ways of recovering illicit assets, and ensuring that we are disposing of the same in a way that creates better lives and sustainable futures for impacted communities, while recognizing that the real threat of the illegal economy centers in convergence, and that we can no longer turn a blind eye on corruption and organized crime.

Thank you.

Monday, May 12, 2014

STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL'S CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY ON INTERNATIONAL CRIME

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

United States Assistance to Combat Transnational Crime

Testimony
William R. Brownfield
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
Statement before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Washington, DC
May 7, 2014



Chairwoman Granger, Ranking Member Lowey, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to discuss the evolving threat of transnational organized crime and the efforts of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) to address it.

If I were sitting before you 35 years ago, when the predecessor to INL—the Bureau of International Narcotics Matters—was first established and you asked me what transnational organized crime would look like in the year 2014, I might have informed you of the violent and hierarchical structure of the drug cartels and various mafias and have foretold the success of U.S. counternarcotics assistance to Colombia or the expansion of our anti-drug trafficking efforts worldwide. I might have accurately predicted the efforts of some cartels to move across the Caribbean and destabilize communities across the hemisphere. I might have surmised that, criminals being opportunists, they would diversify and seek out not only new markets but also new forms of criminality with minimal risk and high rewards. And I would have assumed—accurately—that certain elements of illicit trafficking would remain the same regardless of the product being trafficking: demand for the product, which produces a market; a producer at the source; the need for a logistics network to move the product across international borders, a system to market or distribute the product at its destination, and the need to convert the product into cash or some other marketable commodity usable in the licit market. But I could not have predicted the extent to which globalization, coupled with dramatic improvements in technology, would turn criminal organizations that had once had only a domestic or regional impact into networked enterprises posing threats to our and our partners interests across the globe.
Today’s reality is that criminal and illicit networks have expanded their tentacles to all parts of the world, corrupting public and market-based institutions alike. Their activities threaten not only the interdependent commercial, transportation, and transactional systems that facilitate free trade and the movement of people throughout the global economy, but are jeopardizing governance structures, economic development, security, and supply chain integrity. Their penetration of state institutions and financial and security sectors is particularly concerning.
Recognizing the expanding size, scope, and influence of transnational organized crime and its impact on U.S. and international security and governance, in July 2011, the White House released theStrategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime. The Strategy calls on all departments and agencies to "build, balance, and integrate the tools of American power to combat transnational organized crime…and urge our foreign partners to do the same." The Strategy also calls for the U.S. government and our international partners to work together to combat transnational illicit networks, and take that fight to the next level by breaking their corruptive power, attacking their financial underpinnings, stripping them of their illicit wealth, and severing their access to the financial system.

With our diplomatic reach and foreign assistance authorities, INL is strengthening partner nation capacity to deal with these emerging transnational criminal threats including by combating corruption and targeting the illicit wealth of criminal entrepreneurs. INL’s programs promote regional capacity-building to mitigate the famous "balloon effect" we saw in South America in the 1980s and 1990s, whereby criminal groups jump from one country to another as pressure was applied. Through the Central America Regional Security Initiative, the Merida Initiative, the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, the West Africa Cooperative Security Initiative, and other programs you have supported, we are focused on coordinating investigations, supporting prosecutions, and facilitating the sharing of information across borders.

Many of the approaches and methods we have refined over the past three decades to reduce the harm of narcotics trafficking are transferable to new and urgent threats – and I will focus on one such threat today -- wildlife trafficking. It is fueled by high demand for wildlife products, high profits -- an ounce of rhino horn is worth more than gold, cocaine, or heroin in weight -- and low risk for detection or meaningful punishment. Its impact on the planet’s natural resources is as obvious as it is devastating – entire animal species are at risk. But even setting aside the risk to wildlife, the United States has cause to be seriously concerned about this criminal enterprise: the corruption that it both encourages and benefits from undermines good governance, the rule of law, and citizens’ confidence in their government institutions; the high tech weaponry and aggressive tactics used by poachers and the syndicates and corrupt officials that support them threaten civilian populations; the crime creates and exacerbates border insecurity; wildlife trafficking can weaken financial stability and economic growth, particularly in countries for which tourism is a major revenue source; and we have seen some evidence of involvement by terrorist entities and armed groups.

For these reasons, we need to address wildlife trafficking not only as a conservation issue but also a national security issue. The President issued an Executive Order calling for a whole of government response to combat wildlife trafficking on July 1, 2013 and on February, 11, 2014, the White House released a National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking. The Strategy calls on agencies and departments to strengthen domestic and global enforcement, reduce demand for illegal wildlife products, and build international cooperation and public-private partnerships.

INL is playing a significant programmatic and diplomatic role in implementing the National Strategy. For over a decade, we have provided wildlife investigative training delivered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of our International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) program. Within the last year, with strong support of this Committee and this Congress, we have begun to greatly expand our assistance, drawing on our experience in addressing other forms of transnational criminal activity. We have organized our work abroad around four key areas that support the enforcement and international cooperation goals of the National Strategy.

First, we will strengthen legislative frameworks to make wildlife trafficking a serious crime with strong penalties to give investigators and prosecutors the legal tools they need to put the traffickers behind bars.

Second, we will improve law enforcement and investigative capabilities -- including intelligence, evidence collection and analysis, investigative skills and methods, and collaboration across agencies and governments – to promote intelligence-led investigations and operations that strive not simply to pick up individual poachers but rather to better understand and begin to dismantle the organizations for which they work.

Third, we will build prosecutorial and judicial capacities. As we have learned, rangers and police will not continue to pick up the bad guys if they believe prosecutors or judges will just let them go so, as we improve legislative frameworks and offer up new tools, we need to ensure prosecutors and judges know how to use those tools effectively and creatively.

And fourth, we will enhance cross-border law enforcement cooperation, particularly by working with the regional Wildlife Enforcement Networks (WENs). There is much that we do not know about how wildlife trafficking organizations operate – but we do know that illegal wildlife products often make their way through multiple transit points as they move from supply – or "range" – states to demand markets. So we need to build alliances and processes across borders for sharing information and intelligence and collaborating on operations.

Our work in these areas will be done on a bilateral basis. A portion of our overall assistance is dedicated towards our programming in Kenya ($3 million in FY13) and South Africa ($3M in FY 2013); regionally in Africa ($4 million in FY 2013) and Asia ($1.45 million in FY 2012); and globally ($4.3 million in FY 2012) through organizations including INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the World Customs Organizations, who are part of the International Consortium for Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC). Using $15 million in FY 2014 funds, we will expand efforts begun or piloted using prior year resources, such as training for customs officers at ports of entry, prosecutorial training, and joint capacity building-operational exercises across continents.

INL is also approaching the wildlife trafficking problem in new ways. We are using new tools such as the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program, which Congress, with your support, authorized in 2013. In November 2013, Secretary Kerry announced the first reward offer under the program of up to $1 million for information leading to the dismantling of the Xaysavang Network. The Xaysavang Network, based in Laos and operating across Africa and Asia, facilitates the illegal trade of endangered elephants, rhinos, and other species. This reward offer provides us with an additional tool to dismantle wildlife trafficking networks and bring its leaders and members to justice.

We are also using our diplomatic tools to build an international consensus around the importance of dismantling wildlife trafficking networks. For example, at the UN Crime Commission in April 2013, the United States introduced a successful joint resolution with Peru encouraging governments around the world to treat wildlife trafficking as a "serious crime" pursuant to the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Making it a serious crime unlocks new opportunities for international law enforcement cooperation, provided under the Convention, including mutual legal assistance, asset seizure and forfeiture, extradition, and other tools to hold criminals accountable for wildlife crime. The U.N. Economic and Social Council adopted the resolution in July 2013, further elevating wildlife trafficking as a major concern for the United Nations. These measures provide the mandate that we need, as members of a larger body of concerned nations, to harness our collective capabilities to learn more about these trafficking networks, share information, and collaborate on plans and programs that will undermine them.

The resolution was one of several early successes to which we can point. Another is a month-long global law enforcement cooperative effort that we helped to support in February known as "Cobra II." Participants from 28 countries, including representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Justice, executed a global operation to combat wildlife trafficking and poaching that resulted in more than 400 arrests and 350 major seizures of wildlife and wildlife products across Africa and Asia and the U.S.

Although we have more to learn about the links that exist between wildlife trafficking organizations and other transnational criminal groups, we do know that wildlife traffickers do not operate in a vacuum. Like any legal enterprise that seeks to diversify its portfolio, criminal organizations tend to use the same routes and shipping methods as smugglers of weapons, drugs, and counterfeits. They bribe the same customs officials. They deploy poachers in the same restive regions where terrorists and other criminals may sow instability and conflict and exploit weak institutions and porous borders. Money and corruption are common denominators of all forms of transnational organized crime, and wildlife trafficking is no exception.
Corruption greases the wheels of illicit trade in everything from counterfeits to ivory. In the Sahel-Sahara region of Africa, for example, collusion between smugglers and state officials has eroded state authority and created lucrative funding channels for terrorists, militias, and criminal groups. INL is looking at ways to link up our anti-corruption and unit vetting programs used effectively in narcotics-producing regions, to support willing governments afflicted by illicit wildlife trade.

Following the money is equally important. All illicit criminal networks need money to finance their activities and as illicit funds move through the international financial system, they can be detected and monitored. In addition to exercising leadership within the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), we are promoting and applying tools like asset recovery and forfeiture to combat transnational organized crime and money laundering. Through the FATF style regional body for Eastern and Southern Africa, we are working with international partners to uncover and counter money laundering and other illicit financial flows related to wildlife trafficking. When it is finished, our capacity building projects will address the gaps identified.

Madam Chairwoman, Ranking Member Lowey, and distinguished Members, there is no doubt that transnational organized crime presents a growing and profound threat to international security. Illicit networks undercut the ability of law enforcement to protect citizens, deprive the state of vital revenues, promote corruption, and both thrive on and contribute to bad governance. But as organized crime has evolved and diversified, so has INL. Our programs are both tailored to specific threats, such as wildlife trafficking, and cross-cutting, to target the common facilitators of all types of crime.

Thank you, Chairwoman Granger and Ranking Member Lowey. I welcome your questions.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

U.S. OFFICIAL'S REMARKS AT UN COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) High-Level Segment

Remarks
William R. Brownfield
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
Vienna, Austria
March 13, 2014


Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission
It is a pleasure to join you all today.

Protecting our citizens from the harmful consequences of illegal drugs and transnational criminal organizations is a shared responsibility.

There is consensus around the goals: public health; citizen security; rule of law. How we achieve them will engage our governments leading up to the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs.

The three drug conventions are the starting point. Their goals – facilitating access to medicine, protecting citizens from the consequences of harmful drugs – are universally acknowledged. As is the important role of civil society in achieving them.

The international drug control system is not perfect. Some argue the conventions cannot handle problems this big and complex. I respectfully disagree: over the decades, these conventions have been flexible and resilient, evolving to help member states grapple with these challenges. We believe it is more prudent to advance evidence-based reform within the framework of the conventions than to embrace unproven ideas that undercut the system and risk greater drug abuse. We welcome the chance to discuss reform at this CND and during preparations for the 2016 UNGASS.

The United States enters this dialogue with three lessons in mind:
First, historic neuroscience advances prove addiction is a disease of the brain that can be prevented and treated. We must look at what drives individuals to use drugs, identify ways to prevent drug use before it begins, and expand access to treatment. We will share examples of effective practices with partners facing similar challenges, while supporting capacity-building and training for drug prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery.

Second, we need a holistic approach to combat the criminal orgs who wreak havoc on communities. It is not our task to incarcerate everyone who consumes drugs, but to take down the multinational criminal enterprises that profit from them. Criminal networks thrive in underserved spaces. But when the criminal justice system and the treatment community work in tandem, when we provide alternatives to incarceration, we can stop the revolving door of criminal justice and save lives. Alternative development is another tool for helping good governance and prosperity take root.

Third, international cooperation among UN member states is essential. New psychoactive substances are an excellent example. As many as 200 new uncontrolled substances hit the market just this year, posing public health and law enforcement challenges to all. Member states have developed mechanisms to share information and responses to protect our citizens from these substances, demonstrating the value of the drug conventions, the UNODC, the WHO, and the INCB.

A focus on public health and the science of addiction; an innovative approach to criminal justice; and a commitment to international cooperation. These ladies and gentlemen are the future of drug policy. The three drug conventions provide the framework for this holistic, balanced approach to reducing the global drug problem.

We look to the future, our efforts must be guided by reason, evidence, and – above all – a common desire to safeguard the health and well-being of our citizens.

That is a formula for success, ladies and gentlemen. And succeed we shall, because succeed we must.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

U.S. CONFRONTS TRANSNATIONAL CRIME IN CENTRAL AMERICA


A U.S. Navy sailor pulls rear security on a rivercraft in Corozal, Belize, during joint river operations as part of Southern Partnership Station 2013 in the U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility, Feb. 25, 2013. Southern Partnership Station is an annual deployment that exchanges training and expertise between U.S. military and civilian agencies and their counterparts in Central and South America and the Caribbean. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Ashley Hyatt

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Southern Partnership Station Confronts Transnational Crime
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2013 - Working with three Central American counterparts to help them build capability to counter transnational criminals, participants in Southern Partnership Station 2013 are supporting U.S. Southern Command's outreach to the region, and by extension, U.S. national security, a Southcom official told American Forces Press Service.

After completing the first stop of their visit, to Belize, participants arrived last week in Guatemala, where they will remain through the month's end, reported Navy Cmdr. Robert Skinner, maritime plans chief for Southcom's future operations directorate. They then will continue on for bilateral engagements in Honduras before wrapping up the overall mission in late May.

Throughout the U.S. 4th Fleet operation, the focus is on building partner-nation capacity to help regional nations better stand up to challenges than transcend their national borders, Skinner said.

To support the mission, USNS Swift, a high-speed catamaran, left Mayport, Fla., in mid-February with an embarked command element and members of every military service and participants from the Coast Guard, the FBI and other government agencies.

The assigned units are focusing on locally identified needs, such as port security, noncommissioned officer professional development, operational risk management, medical readiness, outboard motor maintenance and patrol-craft operation, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker, the 4th Fleet public affairs officer, reported.

In Belize, Seabees from Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 202 built an open-bay structure to support Belize Defense Force operations while members of Riverine Squadron 2 helped their Belizean counterparts improve skills in interdiction and security team inserts and extractions on the water.

Meanwhile, agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's Security Training Assistance and Assessment Team Atlantic spent almost three weeks sharing law enforcement techniques with Belizean coast guard and police forces.

With the mission now unfolding in Guatemala, about 150 service members are concentrating their efforts on explosive ordnance disposal teams and riverine and law enforcement operations. Additionally, Seabees are helping to improve infrastructure at the Guatemalan military's Kaibil base.

"Swift is a unique platform that allows us to make lasting bonds with our partner nations in Latin America," said Navy Cmdr. Bob Poling, the mission commander. "What we do on this deployment will make a difference and it will have a lasting impact on our partners in the region."

The Southern Partnership Station mission is part of Southcom's broader Partnership of the Americas maritime engagement strategy, Skinner explained. Adopted in 2008, the strategy provides a coordinated, holistic approach to U.S. maritime engagement in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Other key elements of the strategy include Continuing Promise, which features medical services and humanitarian and civic activities, and Southern Seas, which encompasses a variety of large-scale, multilateral exercises and exchanges designed to improve operational readiness and enhance relationships in the region, Skinner said.

Southern Partnership Station is more bilateral in nature, offering an opportunity for participants to focus on specific capability gaps partner nations identify. This, Skinner said, helps to make them stronger partners and enables them to play a greater role in confronting transnational criminals and drug traffickers that no single country can confront alone.

The mission, along with other Southcom-sponsored engagements in the theater, also promotes regional interoperability so nations can better work together to address these challenges, Skinner said.

"We feel we have common interests and security concerns," he said. "The transitional challenges we have requires cooperative action among the different states. And by building up our partner nations, we are multiplying our own capabilities downrange."

Southern Partnership Station also makes an important statement in reaffirming the United States' commitment to its regional neighbors, Skinner said.

"We want to be an enduring partner," he said. "We want to be their partner of choice."

(Navy Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker, public affairs officer for the U.S. 4th Fleet, and Air Force Master Sgt. Chris Stagner contributed to this article.)

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