Office of International Criminal Justice
U.S. Department of State
Bureau For International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
Contents
- Anti-Crime Training and Technical Assistance Program (ACTTA)
- The International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), Budapest
- Stolen Cars Initiative
- Alien Smuggling
- Nigerian Criminal Fraud
- Bosnia Police Training
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- The Caribbean Initiative
- Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
- US-UN Cooperation
- US-EU Cooperation
- P-8 Cooperation
Transnational Organized Crime
The end of the Cold War presents new opportunities for criminals. Transparent national
borders, fewer trade restrictions, and truly global financial and telecommunications
systems provide significant opportunities for criminal organizations to expand operations
beyond national boundaries. The global reach of organized crime makes it more difficult
for industrialized countries and emerging democracies to detect, investigate and prosecute
criminals. Crime groups take advantage of emerging democracies who sometimes lack the
resources, laws and skills to meet their challenge. Organized crime groups from the former
Soviet Union, Asia and Italy are forming partnerships among themselves as well as with the
drug barons of Latin America. Their activities pose major challenges to U.S. national
interests abroad and to the security of Americans at home. Here are just a few examples:
- It is estimated that the illicit drug trade in the United States generates $50-100
billion a year for criminals.
- Of the approximately 1.5 million U.S. vehicles stolen each year, several hundred
thousand are illegally exported out of the country to Central America and Eastern Europe.
- Perhaps as many as 100,000 illegal Chinese immigrants have been smuggled into the United
States in the past two years, along with hundreds of thousands of migrants from other
countries.
- Approximately $100 billion in U.S. currency is laundered annually utilizing U.S.
financial institutions.
The U.S. Response
President Clinton Announces International
Anti-Crime Initiatives
In Response to the threat posed by transnational organized crime, the President has
initiated a multi-pronged approach which he announced in his October 1995 speech to the
United Nations General Assembly:
International Declaration on Citizens’ Security - The President
called for the negotiation of an international declaration in which nations would commit
in principle to 1) protect the physical safety and collective well being of their
citizens; 2) take effective measures to secure their territorial boundaries against
transnational threats; and 3) take measures to strengthen the rule of law as essential to
the establishment of open societies and open markets. We are working with our allies to
develop a text that we expect will be put forward for consideration at the Fifth UN
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in May 1996.
Dismantling Money-Laundering Havens - The President has instructed the
Secretaries of State and the Treasury and the Attorney General to identify nations that
are "the most egregious overseas sanctuaries for illegally-obtained wealth." The
U.S. will enter into negotiations with these nations to help bring them into conformity
with international standards. The President may consider sanctions against these nations
should negotiations prove to be unsuccessful.
U.S. Legislation - At the request of the President, an interagency
group is developing an International Crime Bill. The bill will contain proposals to
augment the ability of U.S. agencies to investigate and prosecute international criminals.
It will seek authorization for increased U.S. training and assistance to countries
similarly committed to fighting international crime but lacking the resources to do so.
Concurrently, INL has been conducting an interagency review of all current U.S. law
enforcement training and assistance programs to eliminate unnecessary overlaps and to
maximize resources.
Denying Visas - The President authorized the Secretary of State and
the Attorney General to deny visas and entry to a broad range of organized crime members,
transnational criminals, and their family members.
Prohibition on Commercial and Financial Dealings with Significant Foreign
Narcotics Traffickers Centered in Colombia - The President signed Executive Order
12978, freezing the assets of the leaders, cohorts and front companies of major foreign
narcotics traffickers, centered in Colombia. The order also bars U.S. individuals and
companies from any commercial or financial dealings with those individuals and companies
identified in the order and accompanying regulations. INL/ICJ, in cooperation with the
interagency community, continues to develop cases against other international criminal
organizations so that similar sanctions may be authorized and applied as appropriate.
The State Department Fights Crime
On the foreign police front, the Department of State is actively engaged in working
with other concerned governments (through extradition treaties, mutual legal assistance
agreements, information exchanges, and now law enforcement training and technical
assistance) to combat transnational crime. In December 1993, the Secretary of State
expanded the responsibilities of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement
Affairs (INL) to include a new Office of International Criminal Justice (ICJ). This Office
has the responsibility for foreign policy and program leadership of the government’s
response abroad to international organized crime. ICJ’s mission is to formulate
policy and coordinate inter-agency programs designed to combat international organized
crime’s involvement in international money laundering, commercial fraud, and illicit
trafficking. The Office develops training programs for foreign law enforcement
authorities, particularly in emerging democracies, and participates in U.S. delegations to
United Nations and other international conferences. The Office staff consists of foreign
service and civil service officers from the State Department and agents detailed from the
FBI, Customs, Coast Guard, INS, and other law enforcement agencies.
The Department of State’s Office of International Criminal Justice currently
has policy and program initiatives underway to combat the activities of international
organized crime:
Anti-Crime Training and Technical Assistance Program (ACTTA)
Following presidential agreements with the heads of state in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus,
Kazakhstan and presidential announcements in Poland, ICJ developed a program that brings
U.S. federal law enforcement agencies together to provide training and technical
assistance in consultation with their counterparts in Russia, the NIS, and Central Europe.
Training focuses on combating international organized crime, financial crimes, and
narcotics trafficking. The goal of the program is to develop partnerships to control
organized crime and to assure that through international law enforcement cooperation, U.S.
agencies succeed in rolling back Russian organized crime’s move into the U.S.
In Fiscal Year 1995, the program utilized over $20 million in funds from the Freedom
Support Act and the Support Eastern European Democracy Act to train 4100 regional law
enforcement officials. In its second year, the ACTTA
program will offer expanded training to combat financial crimes, including money
laundering, and new training in community policing.
The International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), Budapest
On December 5, President Clinton, Hungarian President Goncz and Prime Minister Horn
reached agreement that Hungary would host in Budapest a law enforcement training academy
to train law enforcement officers from Central Europe and the New Independent States. The
Department of State, the FBI, and other U.S. law enforcement agencies opened the
International Law Enforcement Academy on April 24, 1995. ILEA offers an eight-week course
for up to 50 mid-level police officials from Central Europe and the NIS. The eight- week
session focuses on personal and professional development and includes courses on financial
crimes, organized crime, drug investigations, property crimes, human dignity, management
of the investigative process, and management applications of computerized law enforcement
information systems.
One hundred and five police managers from Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia,
Romania, Lithuania, Estonia and Slovakia successfully completed the eight- week program in
1995. The program in 1996 will expand to include officers from the New Independent States.
Instructors from Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Russia and the Council of
Europe are teaching units on nuclear smuggling, organized crime, VAT tax evasion, human
rights, and media relations as part of the eight-week program.
Stolen Cars Initiative
In cooperation with the National Insurance Crime Bureau, which represents the U.S.
insurance industry, the ICJ manages an initiative to recover U.S. stolen vehicles from
Central America and the Caribbean. The Department has developed a treaty to identify,
recover, and return stolen vehicles to the United States. This treaty is modeled after a
similar agreement between the U.S. and Mexico under which several thousand vehicles are
recovered each year. The Stolen Car Recovery Treaty has been discussed with
representatives of the governments of Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua,
Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and the Dominican Republic. ICJ hopes to have finalized
agreements in most of these countries during 1996. Representatives of the FBI, U.S.
Customs and the National Crime Insurance Bureau have provided FBI- developed stolen car
training for local law enforcement officials in Panama, El Salvador, Honduras and
Venezuela.
Plans are currently being formulated to expand this program into South America and
other parts of the world where stolen U.S. vehicles are being marketed in large numbers.
Alien Smuggling
The President signed a directive on February 7, 1995 to deter the smuggling of illegal
aliens. To implement this directive, ICJ and the Immigration and Naturalization Service
co-chaired an inter-agency working group (IWG) to provide the National Security Council
(NSC) with an examination of the alien smuggling problem and make recommendations to
combat this ever growing phenomenon. The report, forwarded to the NSC in early November
1995, contained an analysis of five regions of the world (China, South Asia, Europe,
Central America and the Caribbean) where significant alien smuggling operations exist. The
IWG made a series of recommendations in its report which it will carry out pending the
NSC’s approval.
ICJ also chairs an inter-agency working group that, since 1993, has coordinated the
interdictions of eleven Chinese alien smuggling vessels and the return of its illegal
immigrants to China. The Office has been working in numerous fora such as the
Inter-governmental Consultations (IGC), the European Union (EU), the Budapest Group, and
the P-8 (the G-7 plus Russia) , to coordinate enforcement efforts, assist other sending
and transit countries combat alien smuggling, and enact anti- smuggling laws where none
currently exist. The Office has prepared resolutions condemning alien smuggling which have
been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Crime Commission,
and the International Maritime Organization.
Nigerian Criminal Fraud
ICJ developed an initiative to address Nigerian criminal activity that involved
narcotics trafficking, money laundering and business fraud. The ICJ initiative features a
concerted law enforcement and foreign policy attack designed to disrupt and curtail
Nigerian criminal operations. ICJ’s approach includes the expanded use of diplomatic
demarches coordinating the actions of other governments, stricter visa issuance,
immigration proceedings, public information, extradition proceedings and diplomatic
initiatives which will encourage increased cooperation by the Government of Nigeria. ICJ
organized and chairs the Inter-Agency Working Group on Nigerian Crime (IWGNC) which
coordinates the efforts of the law enforcement, diplomatic and business communities.
Bosnia Police Training
The INL Bureau, as part of the Administration’s efforts to rebuild
Bosnia-Herzegovina, is working with the United Nations and interested countries to
establish an international police task force to help monitor and train civilian police in
Bosnia. This training effort is pursuant to Annex 11 of the Bosnia Peace Accord, signed in
Dayton, Ohio on November 21, 1995.
Haiti Police Training
ICJ works with the Justice Department’s International Criminal Investigations
Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) to train Haiti’s first civilian police force.
Prior to the arrival of the U.S.-led Multilateral Force in Haiti, ICJ played a principal
role in the planning, recruitment, training, and deployment of over 800 international
police monitors from 21 countries. These monitors supervised Haitian Interim Public
Security Forces (IPSF) who were screened to remove human rights abusers and retrained
under a program designed by ICJ and ICITAP. ICJ remains involved in the police training
program and efforts to develop a coast guard, border guard, and other security forces.
The Caribbean Initiative
Due to the close proximity of Caribbean nations to the southern U.S. border including
Puerto Rico, the U.S. has a vital interest in combating the threat which international
organized crimes poses to many Caribbean countries. These island nations are vulnerable to
illegal activities of white collar criminals, fugitives, arms traffickers, and money
launderers. U.S. law enforcement agencies help coordinate a defense against criminal
organizations that utilize this window to the U.S. The Department of Justice,
Treasury’s law enforcement agencies, and the U.S. Coast Guard share information and
assets in the Caribbean in an effort to block as much criminal activity affecting the
United States.
The INL Bureau has launched a Caribbean Crime Initiative to enhance ongoing efforts to
combat organized criminal activity in the region. ICJ has identified the hot spots for
criminal activity in the area and has participated in organizing meetings with
representatives of foreign governments for the purpose of eliciting their cooperation in
developing a joint effort to combat organized crime in the Caribbean.
The Caribbean Crime Initiative has progressed on two fronts in 1995. First, several
meetings were held with representatives of European governments to engage them in the
process of developing a strategy for assisting Caribbean nations in their fight against
international organized crime activities. The objectives of this initiative were well
received by the Europeans. The process of developing a framework for cooperation in the
region continues to evolve. Secondly, a regional witness security training program has
been developed as part of the Caribbean Crime Initiative. With the increase in
international organized criminal activity in the region there has been an increase in the
propensity for violence directed against government witnesses in major criminal trials.
This program, which will be implemented during 1996, will afford participating Caribbean
governments the opportunity to develop their law enforcement capabilities relative to the
protection of witnesses prior to and during the trial process.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
The FATF has been particularly successful in getting the three nations with the largest
money laundering problems ( the U.S., the UK, and Germany) to agree that global money
laundering is a foreign policy priority. FATF membership includes 26 members from the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, plus Hong Kong and Singapore. An
estimated $300 billion is laundered worldwide each year. Many countries have focused their
money-laundering laws only on drug- related money laundering; however, some FATF member
and non-member countries are beginning to view white-collar crime as a problem of almost
equal seriousness. And the proceeds of non-drug criminal activities; e.g. financial fraud,
illegal arms trading and alien smuggling are often co-mingled with drug proceeds. ICJ is
working with Treasury and Justice agencies to increase the cost of doing business for
money launderers, to make the business climate in money laundering countries less
conducive to money laundering, and to strengthen global anti-money laundering regulation
and enforcement. ICJ plays a leading role to combat money laundering in the Western
Hemisphere through the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and the anti-drug initiative
of the President’s Summit of the Americas process.
US-UN Cooperation
The UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice is the principal
intergovernmental policy-making body of the UN in the field of crime prevention and
criminal justice. The Commission, established in 1991 during the comprehensive reform of
the UN Crime Program, is one of the functional commissions of the UN Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC). At the Fourth UN Crime Commission in May 1995, the Commission adopted an
INL-drafted resolution requiring the Commission and the Executive Secretariat to adhere to
the Commission’s own rules of establishing specific goals, priorities and timetables,
and providing budgetary impact statements prior to any vote on any proposed legislation.
This will enable the Executive Secretariat and its Crime Branch to focus its attention and
resources on practical and efficient programs and projects that will help countries combat
organized crime.
ICJ, in partnership with the National Institute of Justice, is funding a significant
improvement of the UN Crime Commission computer database of justice information available
to law enforcement officials and other interested parties worldwide.
ICJ is funding HEUNI, a UN-affiliated European institute in Helsinki, to expand its
small, existing database or "clearinghouse" for law enforcement training and
criminal justice programs in Central Europe and the NIS. The objective of the database is
to provide interested governments, agencies and others with information on completed,
ongoing or future training programs in Central Europe and the NIS to avoid duplication and
identify potential partners for joint projects.
US - EU Cooperation
The INL bureau is active in promoting cooperation with the emerging institutions of the
European Union. Part of the New Transatlantic Agenda for broader cooperation, signed by
President Clinton and the EU Spanish President on December 3, 1995, identifies cooperative
efforts to combat organized crime, terrorism, drug trafficking, immigration and asylum,
and expand legal and judicial cooperation. Through this new Agenda, ICJ is seeking: to
expand EU participation at ILEA, Budapest; use HEUNI as a mechanism for exchanging
information on training and technical assistance programs; exchange information on illegal
immigration; and combat alien smuggling and trafficking in women.
P-8 Cooperation
The INL Bureau is active in promoting cooperation with the P-8 (G-7 plus Russia). We
are participating in the Experts Working Group on Transnational Organized Crime
established by the P-8 at the 1995 Halifax Summit. We have tabled a series of proposals
for discussion and are working with the Group to turn these and other proposals into
substantive recommendations for action by the P-8.
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