Anthony Baskovitz November 6, 2007 POS 467 Maria Ortuoste Transnational Security Transnational security issues are Organized

criminal activities and enterprises that operate across national boundaries1 and impact individual, state, international and global referents of security. Transnational security issues come about in efforts to combat terrorism, organized crime, and corrupt political regimes. The concern is that the implementation of new laws that help combat the ever more elusive tactics of criminal enterprise may encroach upon the freedoms of citizens, the norms in societies, and the way in which differing nations interact. When one must choose to sacrifice freedom for safety, where should the line be drawn and what is the impact of combating these referents? Money laundering is used by individuals, organizations, and governments who acquire money through illegal means and attempt to erase the ability to trace the origin of their funds. Disguising the profits of crime by laundering them into legally held bank accounts, businesses, and real estate is a way to turn dirty money clean. After 9/11, many were worried and questioned how a terrorist organization could be so well funded. The enactment of the USA Patriot Act magnified the scope on clients funds in financial institutions. The government now wanted the financial institutions to legitimize the funds of all their clients by identifying the origin of their funds and where they spent their funds afterwards. Now bankers are supposed to know enough about how their clients not only make, but spent their money to help ensure that funds in their custody will not end up financing another terrorist attack.2 However there is fear that the

1 Roy Godson, Grave New World (Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2003), 259. 2 L. Malkin and Y. Elizar, Terrorisms money trail, World Policy Journal 19, no. 1 (spring 2002): 62

government will use this act not only to fight terrorism but to prosecute tax evaders through means that would not be available to them otherwise. By divulging private information of nonterrorists, that normally would not be attainable. Cash transactions of more then $10,000, the information on tax evasion can no longer be withheld from the Internal Revenue Service from other agencies fighting money laundering and terrorism.3 With millions of transactions occurring daily, nationally and internationally, a paradox occurs due to the amount of time required to check, tabulate, and cross-reference all of these transactions. The information has a tendency to come together far too late only to be used as a tool in prosecuting said criminals. These measures already exist in the form of the US Treasurys Suspicious Activity Report. Which states, Banks and brokers must report any transaction that has no business or apparent lawful purpose or is not the sort in which the particular customer would normally be expected to engage.4 The dispute that is created by this new act is not in concern to finding active terrorist cells, but in reference to its ability to be used against American citizens. If there was no terrorist threat, then this act would have never been passed and these freedoms, whether a shelter for tax evasion or not, would still be intact. Drug trafficking has long been the base for funding illegal activity throughout the world. In Afghanistan during the period of Taliban control, the farming and sale of opium was outlawed due to their strict Islamic beliefs. After the US invasion, and overthrow of the Taliban, the production of opium skyrocketed in Afghanistan. The Taliban had offered opium farmers protection from the governments eradication efforts. The switch in strategy has an obvious logic: it provides opium money for the Taliban to sustain itself and helps it win over the farming communities.5 The opium trade in Afghanistan supplies around ninety two percent of the worlds opium and it consists of more then half of their gross domestic product. This is a three
3 L. Malkin and Y. Elizar, Terrorisms money trail, World Policy Journal 19, no. 1 (spring 2002): 62 4 L. Malkin and Y. Elizar, Terrorisms money trail, World Policy Journal 19, no. 1 (spring 2002): 62 5 Jon Lee Anderson, The Talibans opium war, New Yorker vol. 83, no. 19 (July 9, 2007): 62

Baskovitz 3 billion dollar a year industry and with the majority of the population consisting of poor peasant farmers this source of revenue wont easily be given up. We dont have a lot of time here. If we dont get a handle on this soon, well have a situation where you cant get rid of it, like we had in Columbia for a while, where the narcos owned part of the government and controlled significant parts of the economy. And we have a lot of evidence of direct links with the Taliban.6 Stated by a western official. The problem is that of simple economics, when a farmer can make a ten fold increase in profits by growing opium versus growing wheat. According to an Afghani farmer, they receive Twenty-one thousand Pakistani rupees for a four-kilo package, the farmer said, and he harvested three to four kilos per jirib (a local land measurement equivalent to about half an acre). He added, I get only a thousand rupees per jirib of wheat, so Im obliged to grow poppies. That comes to about thirty-three dollars from an acre of wheat and between five hundred and seven hundred dollars from an acre of poppies.7 The profits acquired from opium production significantly help the families of farming communities, but a portion of that profit also goes to the Taliban. When government officials destroy opium farms they only hurt the farmer. By destroying their crops they severely limit the farmers income and in turn limit their ability to feed their family. When I was born, I saw the poppies, according to one Afghani farmer.8 This plant can cause a lot of harm to a lot of people across the world, but here in Afghanistan its a way of life, as well as an economic advantage. Organized Crime versus Terrorism, definitions of organized crime and terrorism sometimes overlap. Both groups frequently operate in decentralized cell structures, tend to target civilians, and use similar tactics such as kidnapping and drug dealing. Many experts distinguish the groups by motive. Criminals are driven by financial gain and terrorists by political,

6 Jon Lee Anderson, The Talibans opium war, New Yorker vol. 83, no. 19 (July 9, 2007): 64 7 Jon Lee Anderson, The Talibans opium war, New Yorker vol. 83, no. 19 (July 9, 2007): 65 8 Jon Lee Anderson, The Talibans opium war, New Yorker vol. 83, no. 19 (July 9, 2007): 66

sometimes religious goals. Clearly discerning a groups motive can be challenging, but when determining which group is the bigger threat, there is no one defining factor. In the right circumstances each can exploit the weaknesses of the weak and strong alike. These groups have been around in one form or another throughout human history and as long as there are weak links in a societys chain these groups continue to benefit. Transnational security issues have impacts on individual, state, international and global referents of security. These issues impact every individual on this planet every day. They change, guide, and shape our lives as well as determine how long and to what quality they will be. The effects are direct and indirect as well as non-negotiable. As much as we may try to create an environment where the goal is for the greatest good for the greatest number, individual will always try to benefit from the weakness and suffering of others.

3 L. Malkin and Y. Elizar, Terrorisms money trail, World Policy Journal 19, no. 1 (spring 2002): 62 4 L. Malkin and Y. Elizar, Terrorisms money trail, World Policy Journal 19, no. 1 (spring 2002): 62 5 Jon Lee Anderson, The Talibans opium war, New Yorker vol. 83, no. 19 (July 9, 2007): 62