I. Introduction and Overview

We seek a climate where the global economy and open trade are growing, where democratic norms and respect for human rights are increasingly accepted and where terrorism, drug trafficking and international crime do not undermine stability and peaceful relations.

U.S. National Security Strategy
May 1997

International criminal activity has increased in scale and extent in the wake of globalization, becoming a complex worldwide threat. International criminals today engage in a wide range of illegal activities, including drug trafficking, terrorism, alien and contraband smuggling, fraud, extortion, money laundering, bribery, economic espionage, intellectual property theft, and counterfeiting. Many also resort to extreme violence to advance their criminal enterprises.

International criminals ignore borders, except when seeking safe haven behind them. They move sums of money through the international financial system that are so huge they dwarf the combined economies of many nations. They are often organized in multi-crime businesses, and they have capitalized on growth in international communications and transportation to expand their criminal operations and form potent alliances.

The corrosive activities of international criminals in the post-Cold War era no longer threaten particular countries or regions. They threaten all nations, including our own. International crime is not only a law enforcement problem, it is a formidable and increasing threat to national and international security.

A. Nature and Extent of the Threat

The threat to U.S. interests posed by international crime can be viewed in three broad, interrelated categories: threats to Americans and their communities, threats to American businesses and financial institutions, and threats to global security and stability.

Threats to Americans and Their Communities

The impact of international crime is felt directly on the streets and in the communities of the United States. Cocaine produced in the Andean jungles of South America and heroin produced in the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia are trafficked in our schools, neighborhoods and communities. The violence, social disruption and enormous health costs associated with drug abuse continue to have a devastating impact in our country. International terrorism has reached inside our borders, as evidenced by the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City and the murderous attack on CIA employees in Langley, Virginia.

Hundreds of thousands of individuals enter the United States illegally each year. Many of them are transported to this country under brutal conditions by alien smuggling rings and then forced into harsh forms of involuntary servitude. These alien smuggling rings are increasingly prone to violence and often engage in other kinds of smuggling that jeopardize the safety of our citizens.

Wide-scale smuggling of contraband -- drugs, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, stolen cars, wildlife, and child pornography -- across our borders in both directions is a serious problem. For example, every year, a billion dollars worth of stolen vehicles are taken out of the country. Americans bear the cost of these crimes both directly and indirectly through the loss of their vehicles and through higher insurance rates.

Americans are also increasingly the victims of fraud schemes and other "white collar" crimes perpetrated by international criminals. These schemes cost Americans tens of billions of dollars annually.

Modern air travel and the globalization of business mean that Americans are traveling abroad in ever growing numbers. U.S. nationals who live, work or travel outside the country are increasingly the targets of international criminals, including terrorists, financial swindlers and organized crime syndicates. In recent years, American business people have been kidnapped and held for ransom or political purposes by guerilla groups and narcoterrorists operating in Latin America. Others have been murdered in Colombia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan and Russia. The 1995 Riyadh and 1996 Khobar Towers bombings in Saudi Arabia, as well as the earlier downing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, are brutal reminders that international terrorists target Americans overseas.

The nation's critical infrastructure systems - such as energy, banking and telecommunications - are increasingly based on commercial information technologies, and, for economic and operational reasons, are increasingly interconnected. As a result, these systems are vulnerable to increasingly varied threats and are at a heightened risk of catastrophic failure. The range of potential adversaries that may seek to attack U.S. infrastructure systems is broad and growing. Disgruntled employees, disaffected individuals or groups, organized crime groups, domestic and international terrorists, and hostile nations are all potential sources of attack.

[International criminals] jeopardize the global trend toward peace and freedom, undermine fragile new democracies, sap the strength from developing countries, [and] threaten our efforts to build a safer, more prosperous world.

President Bill Clinton
Speech at the United Nations
October 22, 1995

Threats to American Businesses and Financial Institutions

In recent years, the robust overseas expansion of American businesses and financial institutions, the growing integration of the world's financial, banking and payment systems, and the rapid increase in the use of credit cards and other financial products tied to U.S. businesses has enhanced the potential for international financial fraud, counterfeiting and money laundering.

In many nations, American businesses and financial institutions are being targeted for securities fraud, extortion, racketeering, economic espionage, intellectual property theft, corrupt business practices and computer crime. When a U.S. enterprise is victimized by one of these schemes, the consequences may include lost profits, lost productivity and lost jobs for Americans.

The commercial sectors in many foreign countries are customers of, suppliers for, and partners with American businesses. Our financial and securities markets are increasingly intertwined with foreign markets. A threat to the integrity of these markets is also a threat to business and financial institutions here at home.

Today, with the overarching threat of communism gone, the faces of hatred and intolerance are still there . . . . Ethnic and religious conflicts, organized crime and drug dealing, state-sponsored terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction. [Americans] cannot insulate [themselves] from these threats any more than they could insulate themselves after World War II. Indeed, we have [fewer] options to do so because the world is becoming a global village.

President Bill Clinton
October 25, 1995

Threats to Global Security and Stability

International criminals engage in a wide range of dangerous activities, including acquisition and sale of weapons of mass destruction, transfer of sensitive American technology to rogue foreign states, trade in banned or dangerous substances, and trafficking in women and children. These crimes pose a grave threat to the security, stability, values and other interests of the entire world community of which the United States is a leading member.

Over the past decade, international criminal organizations have threatened our values as well as the democratic institutions and social well-being of our global partners. The international commitment to the rule of law, to human rights, and to democracy is under attack from criminal organizations, most notably drug trafficking organizations, that respect none of these values. Criminal organizations use threats, intimidation and murder against journalists, law enforcement officials, elected officeholders, judges and everyday citizens. Worldwide violence and corruption emanating from serious crimes remain at levels corrosive to democratic institutions and the rule of law. As one leading example, in virtually every society, illegal drugs kill and sicken people, sap productivity, drain economies and undermine governing institutions.

Major international crime syndicates not only pose a serious threat to the security and stability of our allies, but also to their prosperity. International drug cartels derive tens of billions of dollars every year from abusers buying illicit drugs, and these proceeds permeate financial and political systems in parts of Latin America, the Caribbean, Western Africa, and Southwest and Southeast Asia. While most of the world's largest economies enjoy sound financial and economic systems, the enormous profits generated each year from international crime have the potential to undermine less stable systems. Where this occurs, these weaker economies are hampered in fostering economic prosperity, higher standards of living and broader adherence to human rights principles.

Increasingly powerful organized crime groups in Russia, the other Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union (NIS), and Central and Eastern Europe have infiltrated many key industries. These syndicates have demonstrated a willingness to use violence, corruption and other illicit tactics to maintain and expand their criminal empires.

In some nations in crisis, in transition from authoritarian to democratic rule, or in the midst of a substantial privatization process, criminals are able to thrive to such a degree that they pose a threat to the rule of law and the survivability of democracy. This phenomenon often makes it more difficult for the United States to cooperate with reform-minded foreign governments across a broad range of critical issues, including international crime itself.

B. The International Crime Control Strategy

Background - PDD-42

In response to the direct and immediate threat international crime presents to national security, Presidential Decision Directive 42 (PDD-42), issued on October 21, 1995, ordered agencies of the executive branch of the U.S. government to: (1) increase the priority and resources devoted to this effort; (2) achieve greater effectiveness and synergy by improving internal coordination; (3) work more closely with other governments to develop a global response to this threat; and (4) use aggressively and creatively all legal means available to combat international crime.

Significant achievements since President Clinton signed PDD-42 include:

Adoption by the U.N. General Assembly of the "Declaration on Crime and Public Security," a U.S. initiative underscoring the increasing threat to individuals in every society from serious transnational crime and reaffirming the commitment of the world community to counter that threat.

Improved internal coordination of international crime fighting efforts across a broad range of federal agencies and programs. U.S. law enforcement agencies are now working more closely than ever before with diplomats and intelligence officials to develop strategic approaches to combat international crime on bilateral, regional and global bases. They combine training with aggressive enforcement that investigates, prosecutes and disrupts major criminal groups.

Effective use of International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) authority to block Colombian cartel assets in the United States and prevent U.S. entities from trading with the identified individuals and businesses.

Revocation of U.S. visas of international criminals and corrupt officials to prevent them from coming to the United States to do business.

Engagement of other countries in unprecedented bilateral law enforcement cooperation, with increasing acceptance both of the "nowhere to hide" principle and the critical importance of attacking money laundering. The United States has worked with more than a dozen countries especially vulnerable to money laundering to encourage them to address their deficiencies. The United States uses a two-pronged approach of assistance with anti-money laundering programs and warnings about consequences of failing to take action.

Strengthening of multilateral efforts against international crime through increased emphasis in such forums as the U.N., the Organization of American States, the European Union and the G-8.

To promote further progress in implementing PDD-42, the National Security Council called upon the Departments of Justice, State and the Treasury to develop and implement a comprehensive national strategy to attack international crime.

Purpose

The International Crime Control Strategy (ICCS) is a plan of action. The ICCS articulates eight broad goals with thirty related objectives as the blueprint for an effective, long term attack on the international crime problem. The Strategy also expresses the nation's strong resolve to combat international crime aggressively and reduce substantially its adverse impacts on the American people.

The Strategy's goals and objectives are dynamic. They will evolve over time as conditions change, new crime trends emerge, and improved anti-crime techniques are developed. However, our firm resolve to attack and make significant inroads against international crime must and will be sustained.

Relationship to Other Strategies

The ICCS responds to the high priority accorded international crime in the National Security Strategy and builds on existing crime control strategies, such as the National Drug Control Strategy and the Presidential Directives on international heroin control, counternarcotics operations in the Western Hemisphere, alien smuggling, nuclear materials safety and security, and counterterrorism. Annex 1 contains summaries of key strategies and directives that bear a close relationship to the ICCS.

The ICCS does not reiterate or supplant existing strategies and directives on topics related to international crime. Rather, this broader Strategy complements these other documents, providing the framework for integrating all facets of the federal response to international crime.

C. International Crime Control Strategy: Goals and Objectives

Although international criminals continue to increase in number, sophistication and strength -- and to expand their activities into new types of financial scams, extortion schemes and computer and high tech crimes -- they typically have common vulnerabilities. For example, these criminals cross international borders, where they are subject to searches and identity checks. They launder money, triggering financial reporting requirements and risking asset seizure. They also communicate with each other, exposing their activities to wiretaps and other monitoring capabilities. The Strategy takes advantage of these vulnerabilities. Further, where international criminals' success can be attributed, in part, to a failure of governance, the Strategy aims to improve international anti-crime efforts by strengthening the rule of law and fostering democracy, free markets and human rights.

The Strategy's eight overarching goals and thirty associated implementing objectives (see Table I-1) are discussed briefly below and then elaborated in succeeding chapters. Annex 2 enumerates the key acronyms used throughout the Strategy.

Goal 1: Extend the First Line of Defense Beyond U.S. Borders

If we are to keep foreign-based crime away from U.S. shores, our first line of defense must be abroad. Given that reality, we must place sufficient law enforcement, diplomatic and consular personnel overseas to target foreign-based criminals before they and their activities reach the United States. Our approach must be proactive where possible and reactive where necessary. Our overseas law enforcement, diplomatic and consular personnel must improve information sharing among their respective agencies and enhance operational links with foreign governmental authorities and with civic leaders. Our laws providing for extraterritorial jurisdiction also must meet our present and future needs.

The Strategy sets forth three objectives in furtherance of this goal: (1) prevent acts of international crime planned abroad, including terrorist acts, before they occur; (2) use all available laws to prosecute select criminal acts committed abroad; and (3) intensify activities of law enforcement, diplomatic and consular personnel abroad.

Goal 2: Protect U.S. Borders by Attacking Smuggling and Smuggling-Related Crimes

One of our primary points of defense will continue to be our borders. The Strategy focuses and coordinates ongoing efforts to protect our air, land and sea borders against international criminals and their smuggling operations involving aliens, drugs and other contraband. It further recognizes the paramount importance of stemming the flow of ill-gotten money and goods out of the United States -- resources that feed the cycle of international crime.

There are four implementing objectives associated with this goal: (1) enhance our land border inspection, detection and monitoring capabilities through a greater resource commitment, further coordination of federal agency efforts, and increased cooperation with the private sector; (2) improve the effectiveness of maritime and air smuggling interdiction efforts in the transit zone; (3) seek new, stiffer criminal penalties for smuggling activities; and (4) target enforcement and prosecutorial resources more effectively against smuggling crimes and organizations.

Goal 3: Deny Safe Haven to International Criminals

The Strategy emphasizes the critical importance of denying sanctuary, or "safe haven," to international criminals. To escape the reach of law enforcement authorities, international criminals continue to exploit national borders both by committing crimes in one jurisdiction that have an impact in another jurisdiction and by fleeing a jurisdiction after having committed a crime there. For too long, such fugitives have been able to obtain safe haven in countries either that do not have modern extradition agreements with the United States or that have failed to enact appropriate national legislation allowing for the criminals' extradition or expulsion. Even when an international criminal is in U.S. custody, it is often a difficult and time consuming process to gather evidence from abroad.

Our efforts to reach this goal will center on three objectives: (1) negotiate new international agreements to create a seamless web for the prompt location, arrest and extradition of international fugitives; (2) implement strengthened immigration laws that prevent international criminals from entering the United States and provide for their prompt expulsion when appropriate; and (3) promote increased cooperation with foreign law enforcement authorities to provide rapid, mutual access to witnesses, records and other evidence.

Goal 4: Counter International Financial Crime

The primary motivation of international criminals - whether they are involved in drug trafficking, arms smuggling, financial fraud, or other crimes - is greed. Even terrorists, whose crimes frequently are not motivated by financial gain, require substantial funds for their operations and often commit financial crimes.

The associated need to hide "dirty" money and to launder it into seemingly legitimate assets is a major vulnerability for many international criminals. The Strategy focuses on the need to move against the financial underpinnings of international crime by developing new tools to track illicit proceeds to their criminal sources and by striking the criminal revenue base more effectively.

The Strategy sets forth four objectives in furtherance of this goal: (1) combat money laundering by denying criminals access to financial institutions and by strengthening enforcement efforts to reduce inbound and outbound movement of criminal proceeds; (2) seize the assets of international criminals through aggressive use of forfeiture laws; (3) enhance bilateral and multilateral cooperation against all financial crime by working with foreign governments to establish or update enforcement tools and implement multilateral anti-money laundering standards; and (4) target offshore centers of international fraud, counterfeiting, electronic access device schemes and other financial crimes.

Goal 5: Prevent Criminal Exploitation of International Trade

Trade crime is motivated by huge profits. In addition to hurting American businesses and workers, international crime groups sometimes finance other criminal activity with trade crime proceeds. The Strategy directs law enforcement and regulatory authorities to increase efforts to prevent exports of strategic and sensitive technologies, which can contribute to regional and global instability. It also calls for a new focus on combating intellectual property rights violations and economic espionage, which cost American business billions of dollars a year.

There are five implementing objectives associated with this goal: (1) interdict illegal technology exports through improved detection, increased cooperation with the private sector, and heightened sanctions; (2) prevent unfair and predatory trade practices in violation of U.S. criminal law; (3) protect intellectual property rights by enhancing foreign and domestic law enforcement efforts to curtail the flow of counterfeit and pirated goods, and by educating consumers; (4) counter industrial theft and economic espionage of U.S. trade secrets through increased prosecution of offenders; and (5) enforce import restrictions on certain harmful substances, dangerous organisms and protected species.

Goal 6: Respond to Emerging International Crime Threats

The Strategy directs U.S. government agencies to address the most pressing emerging trends in international crime. International criminal organizations are adaptive and resilient, responding quickly to effective law enforcement pressure. These trends will increasingly threaten vital U.S. interests in the future unless firm and decisive actions are taken. Among the most worrisome emerging trends are the dramatic expansion in computer-related and high tech crime, and the joining together of powerful organized crime groups in Russia, other NIS countries, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia into new, deadly alliances.

United States agencies also must continue to respond rapidly to emerging trends in established areas of criminal enterprise, including drug trafficking, terrorism, and trafficking in women and children. The United States is committed to combating the emerging threats associated with overseas criminal activity -- including criminal safe havens, weapons smuggling, border transgressions and high tech crimes -- through its continued, vigorous participation in the Senior Experts Group on Transnational Organized Crime (the Lyon Group) that operates under the auspices of the G-8 (the G-7 nations plus Russia).

Our efforts to achieve this goal will center on five objectives: (1) disrupt new activities of international organized crime groups; (2) enhance intelligence efforts against criminal enterprises to provide timely warning of changes in their organizations and methods; (3) reduce trafficking in human beings and crimes against children; (4) increase enforcement efforts against high tech and computer-related crime; and (5) continue identifying and countering the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructures and new technologies in telecommunications, financial transactions and other high tech areas.

Goal 7: Foster International Cooperation and the Rule of Law

The Strategy emphasizes the need for a seamlessly cooperative effort between U.S. law enforcement agencies and related agencies around the globe. International conventions and multilateral efforts help develop and enforce tough norms against specific forms of international crime, including terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering. These multilateral efforts are highlighted by the international crime control work being undertaken by the United States and its G-8 partners at the May 1998 Summit in Birmingham, England, both as a continuation of previous initiatives and as a building block in promoting future international cooperation.

For those countries that lack resources and expertise to mount complex or sustained investigations against international criminals, the Strategy calls for expanded training and technical assistance programs to turn foreign police forces, prosecutors and judges into more effective crime fighters. For those countries where the basic institutions of justice are not adequate to the everyday challenges of common crime, let alone the new challenges posed by increasingly sophisticated international crime, the Strategy maintains a country-specific, flexible approach to fostering development of effective criminal justice institutions. Such institutions will provide not only the foundation for the rule of law and lasting democratic government, but also the essential framework for international law enforcement cooperation.

The Strategy sets forth three objectives in furtherance of this goal: (1) establish international standards, goals and objectives to combat international crime by using bilateral, multilateral, regional and global mechanisms, and by actively encouraging compliance; (2) improve bilateral cooperation with foreign governments and law enforcement authorities through increased collaboration, training and technical assistance; and (3) strengthen the rule of law as the foundation for democratic government and free markets in order to reduce societies' vulnerability to criminal exploitation.

Goal 8: Optimize the Full Range of U.S. Efforts

Achieving all the preceding goals will undoubtedly require a dedicated and fully supported team effort. That team must include all relevant U.S. government agencies as well as the private sector and civil society. It must have the best available information on our adversaries as well as the best tools to combat those adversaries. Finally, the team must regularly measure its performance and assess its progress to ensure that tangible results are being achieved in the fight against international crime.

The Strategy relies on three objectives to achieve this goal: (1) enhance executive branch policy and operational coordination mechanisms to assess the risks of criminal threats and to integrate strategies, goals and objectives to combat those threats; (2) mobilize and incorporate the private sector into U.S. government efforts; and (3) develop measures of effectiveness to assess progress over time.

D. Highlights of Planned Initiatives

In recent years, Congress has provided substantial new authority and resources to fight international crime. The Administration has used these tools effectively to dismantle major international drug cartels, thwart and bring to justice international terrorists, and establish a beachhead in the fight against the ever-increasing threat of organized crime groups. However, we must do more to counter this increasing threat.

Highlighted below, and elaborated in the succeeding chapters, are ten of the Administration's initiatives to further our efforts to fight international crime.

International Crime Control Act of 1998

One of the foremost initiatives of this Strategy is the proposed International Crime Control Act (ICCA). The Administration will forward this important legislation to Congress and urge its prompt and favorable consideration. Its passage would provide law enforcement authorities with significant new tools in the fight against international crime, including the ability to: prosecute violent acts of organized crime committed against Americans overseas; deny visas to suspected drug and alien smugglers -- and their family members -- based on "reasonable cause" to believe their involvement in those crimes; freeze criminals' assets in the United States when criminals are arrested abroad; and extradite suspected criminals to other nations when the offense falls outside the offenses listed in an existing treaty, or even in certain cases when there is no treaty.

Comprehensive Threat Assessment

The Administration will prepare, on a priority basis, a comprehensive assessment of the threat posed by international crime to Americans and their communities, American businesses and financial institutions, and global security and stability. The new threat assessment, which will be completed within six months, will draw upon all available data and will be the product of a cooperative effort among all U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

International Conference on Upholding Integrity Among Justice and Security Officials

The United States will call for an international conference within the next six months to focus on the development of model approaches for upholding integrity among key justice and security officials. This international conference, which the President has asked Vice President Gore to organize, would examine real life situations relating to the standards of integrity among justice and security officials worldwide and then prepare appropriate policy recommendations.

Justice and security officials include all those who have a key role in maintaining the rule of law, whether they are police, border officials, military personnel, prosecutors or judges. The conference would collect basic facts on compensation, assess corrupting influences, review standards of ethical conduct, and take stock of ongoing national, regional and global initiatives -- all with a view to determining which approaches to upholding integrity work, which do not, and what new approaches might be developed.

High Tech Crime

The United States relies heavily upon its interconnected telecommunications and automated information systems for basic services, such as energy, finance, transportation and defense. The Attorney General recently hosted the first-ever meeting of justice and interior ministers of the G-8 specifically focused on international efforts against high tech crime. The action plan agreed to by the ministers includes: (1) ensuring that a sufficient number of trained and equipped law enforcement personnel are allocated to the task of fighting high tech crime; (2) establishing an international network of high tech crime points of contact who can be available 24 hours a day to respond to requests for assistance in related investigations; and (3) developing faster ways to trace attacks via computer networks so that the infiltration source can be quickly determined. The Administration is committed to implementing these measures.

The United States will expand national efforts to protect our critical information infrastructure from cyberattacks and cybercrime. For example, the establishment of the National Infrastructure Protection Center at FBI headquarters in February 1998 provides a national-level response to the risks posed by these novel threats.

Border Law Enforcement

The Administration plans to enhance border law enforcement through deployment of advanced detection and monitoring capabilities and investment of greater resources. This initiative will focus on the detection and prevention of illegal border activities, such as unlawful entry and alien smuggling, as well as the investigation and prosecution of criminal groups involved in smuggling aliens, currency, drugs and other contraband.

To enhance border law enforcement at traditional corridors of unlawful entry, the Administration is requesting over $280 million for new border-related initiatives. These funds will place 1,000 new Border Patrol agents on the front lines and equip them with state of the art infrared scopes and night vision goggles. They will also support programs to detain and remove aliens, including criminal aliens. The Administration plans to improve sharing intelligence about alien smuggling among government agencies, and to deploy additional portable computerized biometric and fingerprint identification systems along our borders. These initiatives will allow for quicker identification of smugglers and other criminals.

Financial Crimes

The Administration will continue to deny criminals access to financial institutions, enhance enforcement efforts to reduce the inbound and outbound movement of criminal proceeds, trace illicit proceeds to their underlying criminal source, strengthen the ability of our international partners to combat money laundering, and target offshore centers of international fraud, access device schemes and other financial crimes. Two of the most effective tools the Administration will employ in this effort are the Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

GTOs were used to great effect during 1996 and 1997 in New York City and Puerto Rico to combat money laundering. The orders are based on Bank Secrecy Act provisions that grant the Secretary of the Treasury authority to require any financial institution, or group of financial institutions, in a geographic area to report on any currency transaction involving an amount prescribed by the Secretary. The Administration plans to expand the use of GTOs to cover the entire United States. Additionally, if passed by Congress, the new ICCA would clarify and thus strengthen the existing law subjecting violators of GTOs to criminal penalties.

The IEEPA is an excellent instrument for use against both drug traffickers and terrorists, and their associates, when the President determines that the foreign policy, national security or economic well-being of the United States is threatened. The Administration has used IEEPA to block the assets of Colombian drug traffickers and their business enterprises and will expand the use of IEEPA as appropriate.

International Asset Forfeiture and Sharing

The United States will press in bilateral and multilateral forums for international commitments to institute asset forfeiture regimes to undercut the profit motive in international crime. The United States also will advocate new asset forfeiture sharing agreements with our international partners. Greater sharing of the proceeds from seized assets will provide added incentive for international cooperation.

OAS Treaty Against Illegal Trafficking in Firearms

In October 1997, after five months of negotiations in which the United States and Mexico played a leadership role, a working group of the OAS member states reached final agreement on the text of a hemispheric convention to combat the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives and related materials. The convention was adopted by the OAS and signed by a number of countries, including the United States, in November 1997. The convention contains specific provisions requiring the signatories to: ensure that all firearms are marked by the manufacturer and the importer; designate a point of contact for purposes of cooperation and information exchange; make the crimes of illicit manufacturing and trafficking extraditable offenses; and pledge to exchange technical information to improve the signatories' respective efficiency in combating these crimes. The Administration is committed to working with its OAS partners to implement this convention fully.

Economic Espionage and Theft of Industrial Property

With the passage of the Economic Espionage Act, the Administration now has enhanced means to investigate and prosecute the theft of U.S. trade secrets. Federal law enforcement agencies will work with the counterintelligence community to identify agents of foreign governments and businesses who are planning "attacks" against U.S. industrial targets. Government-industry cooperation and a heightened sensitivity to the theft of industrial property are expected to result in an increase in investigations and prosecutions of individuals and companies who attempt to steal U.S. trade secrets.

Strategic Communications Plan

Governments working alone, or even in close cooperation with each other, will not be fully effective in countering international crime. Real and enduring success in this vital effort will come only when the private sector - including both individual and corporate citizens - joins in that effort. To that end, the Administration will develop and implement a strategic communications plan to engage the private sector in assessing the impact of international crime on the private sector and determining the role the private sector should play in countering that threat.

Table I-1

The International Crime Control Strategy: Goals and Objectives

Goal 1: Extend the First Line of Defense Beyond U.S. Borders

Objective 1: Prevent acts of international crime planned abroad, including terrorist acts, before they occur.

Objective 2: Use all available laws to prosecute select criminal acts committed abroad.

Objective 3: Intensify activities of law enforcement, diplomatic and consular personnel abroad.

Goal 2: Protect U.S. Borders by Attacking Smuggling and Smuggling-Related Crimes

Objective 1: Enhance our land border inspection, detection and monitoring capabilities through a greater resource commitment, further coordination of federal agency efforts, and increased cooperation with the private sector.

Objective 2: Improve the effectiveness of maritime and air smuggling interdiction efforts in the transit zone.

Objective 3: Seek new, stiffer criminal penalties for smuggling activities.

Objective 4: Target enforcement and prosecutorial resources more effectively against smuggling crimes and organizations.

Goal 3: Deny Safe Haven to International Criminals

Objective 1: Negotiate new international agreements to create a seamless web for the prompt location, arrest and extradition of international fugitives.

Objective 2: Implement strengthened immigration laws that prevent international criminals from entering the United States and that provide for their prompt expulsion when appropriate.

Objective 3: Promote increased cooperation with foreign law enforcement authorities to provide rapid, mutual access to witnesses, records and other evidence.

Goal 4: Counter International Financial Crime

Objective 1: Combat money laundering by denying criminals access to financial institutions and by strengthening enforcement efforts to reduce inbound and outbound movement of criminal proceeds.

Objective 2: Seize the assets of international criminals through aggressive use of forfeiture laws.

Objective 3: Enhance bilateral and multilateral cooperation against all financial crime by working with foreign governments to establish or update enforcement tools and implement multilateral anti-money laundering standards.

Objective 4: Target offshore centers of international fraud, counterfeiting, electronic access device schemes and other financial crimes.

Goal 5: Prevent Criminal Exploitation of International Trade

Objective 1: Interdict illegal technology exports through improved detection, increased cooperation with the private sector, and heightened sanctions.

Objective 2: Prevent unfair and predatory trade practices in violation of U.S. criminal law.

Objective 3: Protect intellectual property rights by enhancing foreign and domestic law enforcement efforts to curtail the flow of counterfeit and pirated goods, and by educating consumers.

Objective 4: Counter industrial theft and economic espionage of U.S. trade secrets through increased prosecution of offenders.

Objective 5: Enforce import restrictions on certain harmful substances, dangerous organisms and protected species.

Goal 6: Respond to Emerging International Crime Threats

Objective 1: Disrupt new activities of international organized crime groups.

Objective 2: Enhance intelligence efforts against criminal enterprises to provide timely warning of changes in their organizations and methods.

Objective 3: Reduce trafficking in human beings and crimes against children.

Objective 4: Increase enforcement efforts against high tech and computer-related crime.

Objective 5: Continue identifying and countering the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructures and new technologies in telecommunications, financial transactions and other high tech areas.

Goal 7: Foster International Cooperation and the Rule of Law

Objective 1: Establish international standards, goals and objectives to combat international crime by using bilateral, multilateral, regional and global mechanisms, and by actively encouraging compliance.

Objective 2: Improve bilateral cooperation with foreign governments and law enforcement authorities through increased collaboration, training and technical assistance.

Objective 3: Strengthen the rule of law as the foundation for democratic government and free markets in order to reduce societies' vulnerability to criminal exploitation.

Goal 8: Optimize the Full Range of U.S. Efforts

Objective 1: Enhance executive branch policy and operational coordination mechanisms to assess the risks of criminal threats and to integrate strategies, goals and objectives to combat those threats.

Objective 2: Mobilize and incorporate the private sector into U.S. government efforts.

Objective 3: Develop measures of effectiveness to assess progress over time.

NSC Home

President and First Lady | Vice President and Mrs. Gore
Record of Progress | The Briefing Room
Gateway to Government | Contacting the White House
White House for Kids | White House History
White House Tours | Help | Text Only

Privacy Statement