John Rollins
Specialist in Terrorism and National
Security
Liana Sun Wyler
Analyst in International Crime and Narcotics
This
report provides an overview of transnational security issues related to
patterns of interaction among international terrorist and crime groups. In
addition, the report discusses the U.S. government’s perception of and
response to the threat. It concludes with an analysis of foreign policy
options.
In recent years, the U.S. government has asserted that terrorism, insurgency,
and crime interact in varied and significant ways, to the detriment of
U.S. national security interests. Although unclassified anecdotal evidence
largely serves as the basis for the current understanding of criminal-terrorist
connections, observers often focus on several common patterns.
-
Partnership Motivations and Disincentives: Collaboration can serve as
a force multiplier for both criminal and terrorist groups, as well as a
strategic weakness. Conditions that may affect the likelihood of
confluence include demand for special skills unavailable within an
organization, greed, opportunity for and proclivity toward joint ventures,
and changes in ideological motivations.
-
Appropriation of Tactics: Although ideologies and motivations of an organization
may remain consistent, criminals and terrorists have shared similar tactics
to reach their separate operational objectives. Such tactics include acts of violence;
involvement in criminal activity for profit; money laundering; undetected
cross-border movements; illegal weapons acquisition; and exploitation of
corrupt government officials.
-
Organizational Evolution and Variation: A criminal group may transform
over time to adopt political goals and ideological motivations.
Conversely, terrorist groups may shift toward criminality. For some
terrorist groups, criminal activity remains secondary to ideological
ambitions. For others, profit-making may surpass political aspirations as
the dominant operating rationale. Frequently cited terrorist organizations
involved in criminal activity include Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Al Qaeda’s
affiliates, D-Company, Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC), Haqqani Network, and Hezbollah.
To combat these apparent criminal-terrorist connections, Congress has
maintained a role in formulating U.S. policy responses. Moreover, recent
Administrations have issued several strategic documents to guide U.S.
national security, counterterrorism, anti-crime, and intelligence activities.
In July 2011, for example, the Obama Administration issued the Strategy to
Combat Transnational Organized Crime, which emphasized, among other
issues, the confluence of crime and terrorism as a major factor in
threatening the U.S. global security interests.
While the U.S. government has maintained substantial long-standing efforts to
combat terrorism and transnational crime separately, Congress has been
challenged to evaluate whether the existing array of authorities,
programs, and resources sufficiently responds to the combined crimeterrorism threat.
Common foreign policy options have centered on diplomacy, foreign assistance, financial
actions, intelligence, military action, and investigations. At issue for
Congress is how to conceptualize this complex crime-terrorism phenomenon
and oversee the implementation of cross-cutting activities that span
geographic regions, functional disciplines, and a multitude of policy
tools that are largely dependent on effective interagency coordination and
international cooperation.
Date of Report: June 11, 2013
Number of Pages: 39
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