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al-Qaida were removed by the U.S. invasion. Cuba, North Korea, and
Syria which has continued to support Hizballah and Palestinian ter-
rorist groups and is suspected of assisting anti-American insurgents in
Iraq remain as sponsors, although none is as active now as in the past.
Transnational Besides global terrorist networks, there are other nonstate actors, with
Crime and
goals geared toward personal gain rather than public objectives,
Narco-Terrorism
whose actions nevertheless have significant consequences for home-
land security. International criminal organizations participate in drug
and arms trafficking, money laundering, cigarette smuggling, piracy,
counterfeiting, illegal technology transfers, identity theft, public cor-
ruption, and illegal immigration. Assessments of the international
crime threat are that it is pervasive, substantial, and growing. For
example, organized alien smuggling networks bring over 500,000 ille-
gal immigrants into the United States annually and move four million
people worldwide, generating revenues of over $7 billion. Worldwide
money laundering is estimated at $1 trillion. Individuals engaged in
these criminal activities are also increasingly employing sophisticated
methods and advanced technologies.6
There is no single global crime cartel, but there is evidence that
groups have cooperated in joint operations. Though virtually no coun-
try is free of organized crime, the eight largest crime organizations are
centered in China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Colombia,
Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, the United States, and Canada. Each
group has extensive international links and cuts across regions of
strategic concern to the United States. In recent years Albanian,
Burmese, Filipino, Israeli, Jamaican, Korean, Thai, Nigerian, and
Pakistani groups have also drawn the concern of international law
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CHAPTER 6 " THE TRANSNATIONAL DIMENSIONS OF TERRORISM 109
I SSUE:
ARE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS
A THREAT TO HOMELAND SECURITY?
Some observers maintain that criminal organizations are not a
direct threat to the security of the United States since they seek to
exploit and manipulate rather than coerce or compel the state to
take specific acts. Nor do they directly threaten the stability of the
nation.8 Transnational criminal organizations, however, can impact
on homeland security threats in several distinct and important
ways. Organized crime and corruption can undermine political,
economic, and social stability of weak states thus increasing the
potential for governments to be co-opted by authoritarian regimes
or terrorist groups. This threat is particularly evident in central
Asia, central and southeast Europe, and South America. Criminal
groups can also facilitate, fund, supply goods and services to, or
even act on behalf of terrorist groups. There are reports the
Camorra crime organization and other criminal groups based
around Naples, Italy, supplied heavy weapons to the ETA terrorist
group in exchange for cocaine and hashish. Arms smuggling
groups have also been linked to terrorist groups.9 The line between
these groups can become vague. In some instances, including a
major U.S. and Canadian methamphetamine ring, money gained
from drug trafficking has been sent to terrorist groups.10 Also,
other transnational groups mimic criminal activities, using the
same methods and techniques to evade law enforcement and
exploit the gaps in U.S. domestic security. Finally, the toll of inter-
national crime in social costs, lost revenue, and the demand for
intelligence and law enforcement resources complicates and exac-
erbates the challenge of responding to terrorist groups.
1. Should major criminal organizations be considered threats
to America s homeland security?
2. What priority should be placed on investigating transna-
tional criminal organizations?
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110 PART 2 " UNDERSTANDING TERRORISM
3. Are any of the tools used in the war on terrorism appropri-
ate for use against criminal groups? If so, which ones?
4. Are there reasons these groups should not receive substan-
tial focus?
enforcement. The organizations also appear to be evolving, employing
looser, more adaptive, and innovational command structures.7
Narco-Terrorism
In the area of drug smuggling the nexus between terrorism and crim-
inal activity is particularly troubling. According to the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA), a narco-terrorist organization is
a group that is complicit in the activities of drug trafficking to fur-
ther or fund premeditated, politically motivated violence to influence
a government or group of people. Almost half of the groups desig-
nated by the State Department as foreign terrorist organizations
may be tied to the drug trade, the DEA estimates. Because drugs and
terror frequently share a common ground of geography, money, and
violence, keeping drug money from financing terror is an important
part of the nation s counterterrorism strategy.11
The international market in drugs can provide several benefits to
terrorist groups. They can acquire operating funds from producing
drugs and/or protecting those who do. They also benefit from the
instability produced by drug trafficking and may also see value in
encouraging the use of drugs by the United States and other enemy
populations. For example, the Taliban government of Afghanistan
earned huge amounts of money from the opium trade during the
time it was sheltering al-Qaida, and the DEA has claimed there is
multi-source information that bin Ladin has been involved in the
financing and facilitation of heroin trafficking.12 The Afghan heroin
trade continued after the U.S. invasion, although the public evidence
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