Transnational Crime and the Criminal-Terrorist Nexus

Modernized transnational crime is on the rise and threatens our national security like never before. Globalization, technological advances and anarchy resulting from the end of the Cold War has made transnational crime much easier to perpetrate and given criminals flexibility to change tactics to continually evade law enforcement. Exacerbating the growing problem is the fact that the groups involved in transnational crime operate with a level of sophistication previously only found in multinational corporations. Eurasian transnational crime is considered by government agencies as the most worrisome and the largest threat to the United States due to its size, wealth and global reach. The problem of human trafficking is expanding throughout Eurasia and the Baltic nations, and has now reached our shores. An emerging area of concern is the region surrounding a corrupt North Korea, as it expands its influence beyond its borders. Many agencies are involved in the fight against transnational crime and cite progress in capacity building efforts with other nations to establish and enforce the rule of law. These engagement activities will also help stem corruption, which aggravates transnational crime.