convergence

Fighting Networks with Networks
• examining the establishment of sound mechanisms to trace the flow of criminally
derived funds and to prevent illicit networks from benefitting from the proceeds
of crime
• strengthening collective capacities to counter transregional threats including synergies
between multilateral and regional efforts as well as operational and information
centers, with emphasis on West Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean
• improving our understanding of emerging threats, especially identifying gaps and
needs, and promoting public awareness of the real costs to governments and their
citizens of the insecurity, the loss of revenue, trade, and investment, and the risks to
health and safety caused by the activities of illicit networks
• promoting the implementation and best use of the available international instruments
including the United Nations Conventions regarding the Control of Drugs
and Corruption (UNCAC) and Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), as
well as the Financial Action Task Force principles on combating money laundering
and terrorist financing
• leveraging partnerships with key Latin American states to help build capacity in
West Africa
• examining ways in which international scientific collaboration could promote research,
data collection, and analysis of the scale and scope of transnational organized
crime and the evaluation of law enforcement practices to ensure their effectiveness.
The network of law enforcement and judicial officials launched at the Trans-Atlantic
Symposium has continued to meet and coordinate on the most pressing security threats. The
United States, United Kingdom, and other committed jurisdictions have been especially active
at countering the convergence of illicit threats as part of a shared global security agenda. In
June 2012, the United States hosted the Trans-Atlantic Dialogue to Combat Crime-Terror
Pipelines, in Washington, DC, to strengthen international cooperation to identify and disrupt
the collusion of criminal and terrorist networks across the Atlantic threat theater. The Dialogue
examined ways to explore smart law enforcement tools, strategic capabilities and sanctions, and
levers to shine the light on an unholy alliance of illicit actors and their money pipelines, maximize
information sharing, and facilitate the development of concrete policy recommendations.
Among the Dialogue’s final recommendations for further discussion are:
• build a transatlantic network: combine joint national capabilities to develop an anticipatory
approach to crime-terror interaction, and coordinate actions to mitigate
the current threats posed by adaptive actors and hybrid networks
• paint the crime-terror panorama: reevaluate the traditional separation of terrorism
and organized crime as distinct threats
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