Transnational organized crime (TOC) poses a significant & growing threat lớn national và international security, with dire implications for public safety, public health, democratic institutions, and economic stability across the globe. Not only are criminal networks expanding, but they also are diversifying their activities, resulting in the convergence of threats that were once distinct & today have explosive and destabilizing effects. This Strategy organizes the United States to combat TOC networks that pose a strategic threat to Americans và to U.S. Interests in key regions.
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Penetration of State Institutions, Corruption, & Threats khổng lồ cachseo.comvernance. Developing countries with weak rule of law can be particularly susceptible to lớn TOC penetration. TOC penetration of states is deepening, leading lớn co-option in a few cases & further weakening of cachseo.comvernance in many others. The apparent growing nexus in some states among TOC groups and elements of cachseo.comvernment—including intelligence services—and high-level business figures represents a significant threat khổng lồ economic growth & democratic institutions. In countries with weak cachseo.comvernance, there are corrupt officials who turn a blind eye to lớn TOC activity. TOC networks insinuate themselves into the political process in a variety of ways. This is often accomplished through direct bribery (but also by having members run for office); setting up shadow economies; infiltrating financial & security sectors through coercion or corruption; và positioning themselves as alternate providers of cachseo.comvernance, security, services, & livelihoods. As they expand, TOC networks may threaten stability và undermine không tính tiền markets as they build alliances with political leaders, financial institutions, law enforcement, foreign intelligence, & security agencies. TOC penetration of cachseo.comvernments is exacerbating corruption và undermining cachseo.comvernance, rule of law, judicial systems, không lấy phí press, democratic institution-building, và transparency. Further, events in Somalia have shown how criminal control of territory and piracy ransoms generate significant sums of illicit revenue và promote the spread of cachseo.comvernment instability.
Threats khổng lồ the Economy, U.S. Competitiveness, & Strategic Markets. TOC threatens U.S. Economic interests and can cause significant damage to the world financial system through its subversion, exploitation, and distortion of legitimate markets & economic activity. U.S. Business leaders worry that U.S. Firms are being put at a competitive disadvantage by TOC và corruption, particularly in emerging markets where many perceive that rule of law is less reliable. The World bank estimates about $1 trillion is spent each year to lớn bribe public officials, causing an array of economic distortions và damage to lớn legitimate economic activity. The price of doing business in countries affected by TOC is also rising as companies budget for additional security costs, adversely impacting foreign direct investment in many parts of the world. TOC activities can lead to disruption of the global supply chain, which in turn diminishes economic competitiveness và impacts the ability of U.S. Industry và transportation sectors lớn be resilient in the face of such disruption. Further, transnational criminal organizations, leveraging their relationships with state-owned entities, industries, or state-allied actors, could gain influence over key commodities markets such as gas, oil, aluminum, and precious metals, along with potential exploitation of the transportation sector.
Crime-Terror-Insurgency Nexus. Terrorists and insurgents increasingly are turning to TOC to generate funding và acquire logistical support to carry out their violent acts. The Department of Justice reports that 29 of the 63 organizations on its FY 2010 Consolidated Priority Organization Targets list, which includes the most significant international drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) threatening the United States, were associated with terrorist groups. Involvement in the drug trade by the Taliban and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is critical lớn the ability of these groups lớn fund terrorist activity. We are concerned about Hizballah’s drug and criminal activities, as well as indications of link between al-Qa`ida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb & the drug trade. Further, the terrorist organization al-Shabaab has engaged in criminal activities such as kidnapping for ransom and extortion, & may derive limited fees from extortion or protection of pirates khổng lồ generate funding for its operations. While the crime-terror nexus is still mostly opportunistic, this nexus is critical nonetheless, especially if it were lớn involve the successful criminal transfer of WMD material lớn terrorists or their penetration of human smuggling networks as a means for terrorists khổng lồ enter the United States.
Expansion of Drug Trafficking. Despite demonstrable counterdrug successes in recent years, particularly against the cocaine trade, illicit drugs remain a serious threat khổng lồ the health, safety, security, and financial well-being of Americans. The demand for illicit drugs, both in the United States and abroad, fuels the power, impunity, and violence of criminal organizations around the globe. Mexican DTOs are escalating their violence to consolidate their market nội dung within the Western Hemisphere, protect their operations in Mexico, & expand their reach into the United States. In West Africa, Latin American cartels are exploiting local criminal organizations lớn move cocaine to Western Europe and the Middle East. There have also been instances of Afghan DTOs operating with those in West Africa lớn smuggle heroin to lớn Europe & the United States. Many of the well-established organized criminal groups that had not been involved in drug trafficking—including those in Russia, China, Italy, và the Balkans—are now establishing ties khổng lồ drug producers to lớn develop their own distribution networks & markets. The expansion of drug trafficking is often accompanied by dramatic increases in local crime & corruption, as the United Nations has detected in regions such as West Africa and Central America.
Human Smuggling. Human smuggling is the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation, or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries’ laws, either clandestinely or through deception, whether with the use of fraudulent documents or through the evasion of legitimate border controls. It is a criminal commercial transaction between willing parties who cachseo.com their separate ways once they have procured illegal entry into a country. The vast majority of people who are assisted in illegally entering the United States and other countries are smuggled, rather than trafficked. International human smuggling networks are linked lớn other transnational crimes including drug trafficking & the corruption of cachseo.comvernment officials. They can move criminals, fugitives, terrorists, and trafficking victims, as well as economic migrants. They undermine the sovereignty of nations và often endanger the lives of those being smuggled. In its 2010 report The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment, the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) estimated that the smuggling of persons from Latin America to the United States generated approximately $6.6 billion annually in illicit proceeds for human smuggling networks.
Trafficking in Persons. Trafficking in Persons (TIP), or human trafficking, refers to activities involved when one person obtains or holds another person in compelled service, such as involuntary servitude, slavery, debt bondage, & forced labor. TIP specifically targets the trafficked person as an object of criminal exploitation—often for labor exploitation or sexual exploitation purposes—and trafficking victims are frequently physically and emotionally abused. Although TIP is generally thought of as an international crime that involves the crossing of borders, TIP victims can also be trafficked within their own countries. Traffickers can move victims between locations within the same country and often sell them to other trafficking organizations.
Weapons Trafficking. Criminal networks và illicit arms dealers also play important roles in the black markets from which terrorists and drug traffickers procure some of their weapons. As detailed in the 2010 UNODC report The Globalization of Crime, “The value of the documented global authorized trade in firearms has been estimated at approximately $1.58 billion in 2006, with unrecorded but licit transactions making up another $100 million or so. The most commonly cited estimate for the size of the illicit market is 10% - 20% of the licit market.” According khổng lồ the head of UNODC, these “illicit arms fuel the violence that undermines security, development và justice” worldwide. U.S. Federal law enforcement agencies have intercepted large numbers of weapons or related items being smuggled to lớn China, Russia, Mexico, the Philippines, Somalia, Turkmenistan, & Yemen in the last year alone.
Intellectual Property Theft. TOC networks are engaged in the theft of critical U.S. Intellectual property, including through intrusions into corporate and proprietary computer networks. Theft of intellectual property ranges from movies, music, and video clip games to lớn imitations of popular & trusted brand names, to proprietary designs of high-tech devices and manufacturing processes. This intellectual property theft causes significant business losses, erodes U.S. Competitiveness in the world marketplace, & in many cases threatens public health and safety. Between FY 2003 và FY 2010, the yearly domestic value of customs seizures at U.S. Port & mail facilities related to lớn intellectual property right (IPR) violations leaped from $94 million lớn $188 million. Products originating in trung quốc accounted for 66% of these IPR seizures in FY 2010.
Cybercrime. TOC networks are increasingly involved in cybercrime, which costs consumers billions of dollars annually, threatens sensitive corporate and cachseo.comvernment computer networks, & undermines worldwide confidence in the international financial system. Through cybercrime, transnational criminal organizations pose a significant threat khổng lồ financial & trust systems—banking, stock markets, e-currency, and value and credit card services—on which the world economy depends. For example, some estimates indicate that online frauds perpetrated by Central European cybercrime networks have defrauded U.S. Citizens or entities of approximately $1 billion in a single year. According to the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates cybercrimes through its 31 Electronic Crimes Task Forces, financial crimes facilitated by anonymous online criminal fora result in billions of dollars in losses to the Nation’s financial infrastructure. The National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), functions as a domestic focal point for 18 federal departments or agencies khổng lồ coordinate, integrate, và share information related to cyber threat investigations, as well as make the internet safer by pursuing terrorists, spies, & criminals who seek to lớn exploit U.S. Systems. Pervasive criminal activity in cyberspace not only directly affects its victims, but can imperil citizens’ and businesses’ faith in these digital systems, which are critical khổng lồ our society & economy. Computers & the internet play a role in most transnational crimes today, either as the target or the weapon used in the crime. The use of the Internet, personal computers, & mobile devices all create a trail of digital evidence. Often the proper investigation of this evidence trail requires highly trained personnel. Crimes can occur more quickly, but investigations proceed more slowly due to the critical shortage of investigators with the knowledge and expertise khổng lồ analyze ever increasing amounts of potential digital evidence.
The Critical Role of Facilitators. Connecting these converging threats are “facilitators,” semi- legitimate players such as accountants, attorneys, notaries, bankers, & real estate brokers, who cross both the licit and illicit worlds và provide services lớn legitimate customers, criminals, and terrorists alike. The range of licit-illicit relationships is broad. At one end, criminals draw on the public reputations of licit actors to maintain facades of propriety for their operations. At the other over are “specialists” with skills or resources who have been completely subsumed into the criminal networks. For example, TOC networks rely on industry experts, both witting and unwitting, to facilitate corrupt transactions & to create the necessary infrastructure lớn pursue their illicit schemes, such as creating shell corporations, opening offshore ngân hàng accounts in the shell corporation’s name, và creating front businesses for their illegal activity và money laundering. Business owners or bankers are enlisted lớn launder money, and employees of legitimate companies are used to conceal smuggling operations. Human smugglers, human traffickers, arms traffickers, drug traffickers, terrorists, and other criminals depend on secure transportation networks and safe locations from which lớn stage smuggling activity or lớn store bulk cash or narcotics for transport. They also depend on fraudulently created or fraudulently obtained documents, such as passports và visas, khổng lồ move themselves or their clients into the United States và illegally reside here.
Transnational criminal networks such as organized crime groups, drug traffickers, & weapons dealers at times nói qua convergence points—places, businesses, or people—to “launder” or convert their illicit profits into legitimate funds. Many of these disparate networks also appear khổng lồ use the same casinos, financial intermediaries, & front companies to lớn plan arms and narcotics giao dịch because they view them as safe intermediaries for doing business. Cash-intensive and high-volume businesses such as casinos are especially attractive, particularly those in jurisdictions that lack the political will and oversight khổng lồ regulate casino operations or fail to perform due diligence on casino licensees. Illicit networks similarly abuse some of the same financial intermediaries và front companies in regions where cachseo.comvernment or law enforcement corruption is prevalent, with officials receiving either revenues from the criminal businesses or ownership stakes in the legitimate-appearing commercial entity.
Regional Priorities
TOC—a global problem—manifests itself in various regions in different ways.
Western Hemisphere: TOC networks—including transnational gangs—have expanded và matured, threatening the security of citizens và the stability of cachseo.comvernments throughout the region, with direct security implications for the United States. Central America is a key area of converging threats where illicit trafficking in drugs, people, & weapons—as well as other revenue streams—fuel increased instability. Transnational crime và its accompanying violence are threatening the prosperity of some Central American states và can cost up khổng lồ eight percent of their gross domestic product, according to lớn the World Bank. The cachseo.comvernment of Mexico is waging an historic campaign against transnational criminal organizations, many of which are expanding beyond drug trafficking into human smuggling and trafficking, weapons smuggling, bulk cash smuggling, extortion, and kidnapping for ransom. TOC in Mexico makes the U.S. Border more vulnerable because it creates & maintains illicit corridors for border crossings that can be employed by other secondary criminal or terrorist actors or organizations. Farther south, Colombia has achieved remarkable success in reducing cocaine production & countering illegal armed groups, such as the FARC, that engage in TOC. Yet, with the decline of these organizations, new groups are emerging such as criminal bands known in Spanish as Bandas Criminales, or Bacrims.
Colombia: From Recipient lớn Provider of Assistance
After years of intensive capacity building assistance in Colombia, the United States is working khổng lồ transfer financial & operational responsibility for institutional development lớn the cachseo.comvernment of Colombia. Colombia now is an exporter of law enforcement and justice sector capabilities, providing assistance and advice for police, prosecutors, protection programs, và judiciary, criminal law, and procedure development. This reality is the result of the success of U.S. Assistance in Colombian capacity building, a success the United States aims khổng lồ replicate with other partner states. On July 2, 2008, the world witnessed the extraordinary courage and capability of Colombian forces during their daring rescue of 15 hostages—including 3 Americans—who had been held captive for years in the jungles by FARC guerrillas. The rescue was accomplished without firing a shot.
Afghanistan/Southwest Asia: Nowhere is the convergence of transnational threats more apparent than in Afghanistan and Southwest Asia. The Taliban và other drug-funded terrorist groups threaten the efforts of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the United States, & other international partners to lớn build a peaceful and democratic future for that nation. The insurgency is seen in some areas of Afghanistan as criminally driven—as opposed to ideologically motivated—and in some areas, according khổng lồ local Afghan officials và U.S. Estimates, drug traffickers & the Taliban are becoming indistinguishable. In other instances, ideologically driven insurgent networks are either directly trafficking in narcotics or have linked up with DTOs khổng lồ finance their criminal actions. The threatening crime-terror-insurgency nexus in this region is illustrated by cases such as that of INTERPOL fugitive Dawood Ibrahim, the reputed leader of South Asia’s powerful “D Company.” He is wanted in connection with the 1993 Mumbai bombing và is sanctioned under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 (Taliban/al-Qa`ida).
Russia/Eurasia: Russian và Eurasian organized crime networks represent a significant threat khổng lồ economic growth và democratic institutions. Russian organized crime syndicates & criminally linked oligarchs may attempt to lớn collude with state or state-allied actors to undermine competition in strategic markets such as gas, oil, aluminum, và precious metals. At the same time, TOC networks in the region are establishing new ties lớn global drug trafficking networks. Nuclear material trafficking is an especially prominent concern in the former Soviet Union. The United States will continue khổng lồ cooperate with Russia & the nations of the region to lớn combat illicit drugs & TOC.
The Balkans: A traditional conduit for smuggling between east & west, the Balkans has become an ideal environment for the cultivation and expansion of TOC. Weak institutions in Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia & Herzecachseo.comvina have enabled Balkan-based TOC groups to lớn seize control of key drug and human trafficking routes and Western European markets. The Balkans region has become a new entry point for Latin American cocaine, a source of synthetic drugs, & a transit region for heroin chemical precursors for use in the Caucasus & Afghanistan. Excess weapons are smuggled lớn countries of concern. Insufficient border controls and the ease of acquiring passports enable the transit of criminals and terrorist figures to lớn Western Europe. Cooperation between the United States và the European Union, as well as bilateral cooperation with the countries in the region khổng lồ foster legal institution building, economic progress, and cachseo.comod cachseo.comvernance in the Balkans will be key to eliminating the environment supporting TOC.
West Africa: West Africa has become a major transit point for illegal drug shipments lớn Europe và for Southwest Asian heroin khổng lồ the United States. It has also become both a source of—and transit point for—methamphetamine destined for the Far East. West Africa also serves as a transit route for illicit proceeds flowing back to lớn source countries. TOC exacerbates corruption và undermines the rule of law, democratic processes, & transparent business practices in several African states that already suffer from weak institutions. Due to lớn its lack of law enforcement capabilities, its susceptibility to lớn corruption, its porous borders, and its strategic location, Guinea-Bissau remains a significant hub of narcotics trafficking on the verge of developing into a narco-state. While many officials within the cachseo.comvernment of Guinea-Bissau recognize the extent of the drug problem and express a willingness khổng lồ address it, a crippling lack of resources and capacity remains a hindrance to lớn real progress in combating drug trafficking. The recent re-appointment of U.S. Treasury-designated drug kingpin Jose Americo Bubo mãng cầu Tchuto as Naval Chief of Staff is likely khổng lồ further entrench drug cartels in the permissive operating conditions prevailing in Guinea-Bissau. In the Gulf of Guinea, maritime criminals operate in areas of weak cachseo.comvernance, kidnapping oil workers, stealing oil from pipelines, và causing environmental damage that harms the citizenry. The United States will work with African cachseo.comvernments, European partners, and multilateral institutions to counter this threat to lớn development, democratic processes, và the rule of law in the region.
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Asia/Pacific: TOC networks & DTOs are integrating their activities in the Asia/Pacific region. Due to the region’s global economic ties, these criminal activities have serious implications worldwide. The economic importance of the region also heightens the threat posed lớn intellectual property rights, as a large portion of intellectual property theft originates from china and Southeast Asia. Human trafficking và smuggling remain significant concerns in the Asia/Pacific region, as demonstrated by the case of convicted alien smuggler Cheng Chui Ping, who smuggled more than 1,000 aliens into the United States during the course of her criminal career, sometimes hundreds at a time. TOC networks in the region are also active in the illegal drug trade, trafficking precursor chemicals for use in illicit drug production. North Korean cachseo.comvernment entities have likely maintained ties with established crime networks, including those that produce counterfeit U.S. Currency, threatening the global integrity of the U.S. Dollar. It is unclear whether these link persist. The United States will continue to improve its understanding of the TOC threats in the Asia/Pacific region & will work with partner nations to develop a comprehensive response.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seal hangs on a fence at the agency"s headquarters in this photo taken with a tilt-shift lens in Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2014.Illegal drugs are expected lớn be one of the biggest threats to national security in 2024 as overdose deaths topped 100,000 in the last year, according khổng lồ the Department of Homeland Security's annual threat study.
In its report released Thursday, DHS said it expects illegal drugs produced in Mexico and sold in the United States will continue to lớn kill more Americans than any other threat.
"While terrorists pose an enduring threat khổng lồ the Homeland, drugs kill & harm far more people in the United States annually," the report states.
In the past year, traffickers have contributed to lớn more lethal mixes of fentanyl -- an already deadly drug -- on the market & driving an increase in overdose deaths in the U.S., DHS said. It is expected that fentanyl will remain the leading cause of narcotics-related deaths in the U.S. In 2024, according to lớn the report.
The report also notes that illegal drugs impact American communities by "supporting violent criminal enterprises, money laundering và corruption that undermines the rule of law."
More than 100,000 people died from drug overdoses in the U.S. During the last year, according lớn preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 75% of those overdose deaths are from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
DHS said it has invested in stopping these dangerous and illegal drugs from entering the country -- seizing more fentanyl, and arresting more people for fentanyl-related crimes in the last two years than in the previous five years combined, DHS said in a statement lớn ABC News.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seal hangs on a fence at the agency"s headquarters in this photo taken with a tilt-shift lens in Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2014.
Terrorism, both foreign and domestic, remains a vị trí cao nhất threat that DHS said it will monitor -- especially as they target the United States' critical infrastructure.
"During the next year, we assess that the threat of violence from individuals radicalized in the United States will remain high, but largely unchanged, marked by lone offenders or small group attacks that occur with little warning," DHS said in its report. "Foreign terrorist groups like al-Qa'ida & ISIS are seeking to rebuild overseas, và they maintain worldwide networks of supporters that could seek to target the Homeland."
The "Homeland Threat Assessment 2024" gives a sweeping perspective on threats lớn the United States. A senior DHS official told reporters on a conference call the threat assessment will "maximize" the "clarity & impact" of threats facing the homeland.
In the report, DHS identified the potential for threats along the southern border in 2024.
DHS officials said that as more people come khổng lồ the border, there is an increased likelihood of seeing individuals "that have some connection lớn associates that may be on the watch danh mục or those that might be directly related lớn terrorist activity." The report said that last year there was an increase of about 100 terror watchlist suspects who were encountered along the border.
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Also, "increased migration from the eastern hemisphere has exasperated border security challenges," the report said.
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"These actors will continue khổng lồ be inspired và motivated by a phối of conspiracy theories; personalized grievances; và enduring racial, ethnic, religious, & anti-cachseo.comvernment ideologies, often shared online," the report said.
Another ripe target for domestic extremists is the 2024 election, according to the report. Bad actors will likely use technologies and cyber tools to lớn "enhance their capabilities và malign influence campaigns, ultimately to undermine our confidence in a không tính tiền and fair election," the report stated.
"Cyber actors likely will seek to lớn exploit election-related networks and data, including state, local, & political parties' networks và election officials' personal devices and email accounts."
DHS said these cyberattacks, which may come from countries such as Russia, china and Iran, will "continue efforts to target & steal sensitive US information, research, & technology," in addition khổng lồ attempting to lớn potentially meddle in the 2024 election, according to lớn the report.
Ransomware và cyberattacks are also a focus of DHS' threat landscape.
"Between January 2020 & December 2022, the number of known ransomware attacks in the United States increased by 47 percent," the report said. "Ransomware attackers extorted at least $449.1 million globally during the first half of 2023 và are expected to have their second most profitable year."
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