Professional Documents
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“We know that the nation requires more from our Intelligence Community than ever before because
America confronts a greater diversity of threats and challenges than ever before. Globalization…does
facilitate the terrorist threat, heightens the danger of WMD proliferation, and contributes to regional
instability and reconfigurations of power and influence.”
The Honorable John D. Negroponte, Former Director of National Intelligence,
Statement for the Record to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, January 11, 2007
Britain and the United States have recently lodged Global Arms Trade: UN Members Call for Action
complaints to Beijing about the appearance of sophis-
ticated, newly manufactured Chinese weapons in Af- In the end of September, over 100 nations submitted
ghanistan. Though the Chinese manufacture of the ideas to the United Nations for a treaty to regulate the
weapons is undisputed, a foreign ministry spokesman global exchange of arms. Britain, one of the nations
from Beijing insisted that China’s arms exports con- spearheading the effort, proposed a legally binding
formed to its international obligations. The weapons treaty that would authorize weapons sales only after
in question, discovered with their serial numbers re- exporting states ensured weapons would not exacer-
moved to obfuscate their intermediate source, in- bate internal or external conflict, be used for terror-
cluded anti-aircraft guns, landmines, rocket-propelled ism, undermine economic development, or enable
grenades, IED components, and even the HN-5, a human rights abuses. The British proposal went on to
Chinese copy of the Soviet-manufactured SA-7 sur- recommend an enforcement and monitoring mecha-
face-to-air guided missile. nism to ensure states live up to their treaty obliga-
tions. By closing existing loopholes in the interna-
While high-ranking U.S. officials have accused Iran tional arms export regime, the British government
of receiving the weapons from China and smuggling would make it more difficult for black-market arms
them into Afghanistan, Afghan president Hamid Kar- traders to operate.
zai doubts this link, citing particularly strong ties with
Iran. Others skeptical of Iran’s role in arming the The catalyst for this development came in December
Taliban point to residual animosity from the 1998 of 2006, when 153 nations voted to begin work on the
murder of Iranian diplomats and Shi’a civilians at the treaty. Despite overwhelming support for the meas-
hands of the Taliban in the town of Mazar-e-Sharif. ure, 24 countries, including Russia and China, ab-
The incident caused so much furor at the time that stained from the vote while 1 country, the United
Iran considered invading western Afghanistan. States, voted against it. On October 1, the Congres-
sional Research Service released their most recent
Whatever the source of the weapons, given the close
figures on the global arms trade. According to the
operational ties between al Qaeda and the Taliban, the
figures, the United States was the largest exporter of
latter’s possession of such arms, especially the HN-
arms, with $17 billion in sales and accounting for
5s, is disturbing. Terrorist groups, such as al Qaeda,
some 42 percent of the global market. Given this
have tried several times in the past to use man-
overwhelming market presence, the United States’
portable missiles to target civilian and military air-
refusal to support the nascent treaty could severely
craft. The December 2002 attack on an Israeli charter
undermine it. With annual sales of $3 billion, Britain
jet in Mombassa, Kenya, the June 2002 attempt on a
is still among the top five largest exporters of arms in
military jet outside Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi
the world. This position makes Britain an important
Arabia, and the 2001 plan to attack an El Al jet carry-
voice in the movement to reform the international
ing Shimon Peres in the Czech Republic, though all
arms export regime, a courageous move given the
unsuccessful, are indicative of this threat. According
negative impact such a stance is likely to have on its
to some sources, the serial numbers on the launchers
defense industry.
used in all three of the failed plots were close to one
5
According to a report released by the International also speaking at the conference, echoed Patil’s re-
Action Network on Small Arms, 1,000,000 people are marks, stating that one of Interpol’s priorities was to
wounded and 300,000 are killed by small arms alone assist police forces in combating cyber crime through
every year. Though relatively innocuous when com- the creation of a global operational network of na-
pared to the destructive power of nuclear arms, con- tional central reference points. (Combined dispatches)
ventional weapons have decimated entire regions of
the world and are the primary tools of empowerment MARITIME SECURITY
for unscrupulous groups such as terrorists and crimi-
nal gangs. Increased international oversight of the Joint Training Exercise Held in Laem Chabang
global arms trade will prove an important tool in
combating a host of transnational threats. Over 50 different agencies participated in a four-day
(Combined dispatches) training exercise in the Thai port of Laem Chabang.
The exercise, designed to improve the ability of Thai
CYBER CRIME authorities to react to a wide variety of events, was
inspired in part by similar exercises conducted in the
India Strengthens Campaign against Cyber Crime Port of Tacoma and Seattle. Officials from U.S. Im-
migration and Customs Enforcement and the Depart-
Despite being at the cutting edge in software pro- ment of Homeland Security flew to Thailand to par-
gramming and information technology, India remains ticipate in the event. This exchange of security-related
behind in creating laws and regulations governing expertise constitutes an import aspect of the Thailand-
cyberspace. These comments, made by Vijay Shan- Washington State Partnership Program.
ker, the director of the Indian Central Bureau of In-
Laem Chabang is among the largest ports in the world
vestigation (CBI), came amid a month that saw the
and handles a sizeable percentage of Thailand’s ex-
Indian government taking several major steps, both
ports. Currently, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
unilateral and multilateral, toward addressing cyber
officers are stationed there as part of the agency’s
crime.
Container Security Initiative. This initiative, launched
Domestically, India is taking a two-pronged approach in 2002, seeks to prevent terrorist groups from ex-
toward combating this issue. The first prong consists ploiting cargo containers to deliver weapons.
of a 35 million-rupee grant to the CBI to provide (Combined dispatches)
funding for cutting-edge software and specialized
training. The second prong involves a bottom-up revi- ORGANIZED CRIME
sion of a series of laws created to regulate cyberspace
known as the IT Act 2000. The parliamentary panel Czech Police Raid Organized Crime Group
set up to review the first iteration of these revisions,
called the Draft IT Act 2006, have sharply criticized Officers from the Czech Republic’s elite organized
it. Members of the panel accuse the IT Act of being a crime unit detained 15 suspected members of the Lu-
rehash of the original act rather than new legislation hansk Brigade during a coordinated series of raids in
designed to comprehensibly address recent develop- Prague, Brno, and Teplice. Though 2 of the 15 indi-
ments in cyber crime such as cyber terrorism. viduals originally seized were later released due to
lack of evidence, money forgery charges were
Speaking in New Delhi at the inauguration of the 7th brought against the 13 remaining suspects.
International Conference on Cyber Crime, Interior
Minister Shivraj Patil stated that domestic efforts to The suspects, who hail from the Czech Republic, Slo-
combat cyber crime would be useless unless but- vakia, Syria, the former Soviet Union, and the former
tressed by international cooperation. He cited interna- Yugoslavia, were thought to have circulated a quan-
tional exchanges of forensic technology, training, and tity of counterfeit $100 bills valued in the hundreds of
intelligence as examples of such cooperation that thousands of dollars. According to a spokesman for
could harmonize efforts to combat cyber crime across the Czech police, the forgeries were of a very high
borders. Ronald Noble, Interpol’s secretary general, quality and were not produced in Europe. During
6
searches, police found both legal and illegal weapons, could be exploited. (Combined dispatches)
forged identification cards from various countries,
and a large sum of cash. If convicted, the suspects German National Convicted for his Role in Nu-
face up to 15 years in prison. clear Smuggling Ring
The Luhansk Brigade, a Russian-speaking organized On September 4, Gerhard Wisser was convicted of
crime outfit named after a city in Ukraine, is known violating several counts of South Africa’s Non-
to operate in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act
and Spain. The group first attracted the attention of and Nuclear Energy Act. Wisser, the former manag-
the Czech police in 1996. Four years later, Czech po- ing director of the South African-based Krisch Engi-
lice arrested seven senior members of the organiza- neering Firm, was a key player in the illicit nuclear
tion who were counterfeiting money, blackmailing smuggling network of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qad-
entrepreneurs, trafficking arms, and perpetrating sev- eer Khan. In this capacity, Wisser facilitated the ex-
eral other violent crimes. A year ago, Czech police port of gas-centrifuge technology to Libya. Gas cen-
began shadowing the group of suspected counterfeit- trifuges are designed to convert uranium hexafluoride
ers, gathering enough evidence to carry out the most gas into highly enriched uranium that can be used in a
recent arrests. (Combined dispatches) nuclear warhead. Wisser admitted that he continued
his activities even after determining that the materials
NUCLEAR THREAT he was exporting would likely allow Libya to con-
struct a nuclear bomb.
International Atomic Energy Agency Releases
Most Recent Statistics on Illicit Trafficking Wisser’s activities were discovered when the BBC
China, a German-flagged vessel, was intercepted on
The United Nations nuclear watchdog released their its way to Tripoli carrying parts for the gas centri-
latest dataset covering unauthorized acquisition, pro- fuges. This seizure yielded a watershed of informa-
vision, possession, use, transfer, and disposal of nu- tion on A.Q. Khan’s network, leading to the arrests of
clear and radioactive materials. This dataset, which many of its participants. Additionally, revelations
covers all of 2006, lists 150 instances of such behav- from the seizure contributed to Moammars Khaddifi’s
ior as well as 102 instances that were reported in 2006 decision to renounce his nuclear weapons program.
but took place previously.
In a plea bargain agreement with South African au-
The dataset separates the reported incidents into three thorities, Wisser consented to 18 years in jail, which
distinct categories: (1) unauthorized possession and is to be suspended for 5 years pending his full coop-
illicit trafficking, (2) thefts and losses, and (3) other eration with the ongoing investigation into A.Q.
unauthorized activities. Fourteen of the incidents that Khan’s network. Per the agreement, Wisser will also
occurred in 2006 fell under the first category. While forfeit 2.8 million euros and 6 million rand he reaped
the majority of the incidents in this category involved from his illicit activities. In return for these penalties,
the possession and trafficking of relatively innocuous all charges against Krisch Engineering have been
radionucleotides, a few cases involved natural ura- dropped. Speaking before the IAEA at a briefing on
nium, depleted uranium, and thorium. In one case, Wisser’s activities and subsequent prosecution, a sen-
Georgia reported that it had seized 79.5 grams of ura- ior South African nonproliferation official described
nium enriched to 89 percent. The second category the matter as one of the first successful cases against
saw the most incidents in 2006, with 85 thefts or those involved in A.Q. Khan’s network.
losses reported. Out of these 85 incidents, only 27 (Combined dispatches)
percent of the material in question was recovered.
The final category, unauthorized activities, included
the recovery and detection of improperly disposed-of
sources and accounted for the remaining 51 incidents.
Though this category does not involve patently crimi- This update is produced by the Transnational
nal behavior, it does signal a control weakness that Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and In-
7
ternational Studies (CSIS) and provides monthly
news on terrorism, drug trafficking, organized
crime, money laundering, and other transnational
threats. The TNT Update draws primarily on inter-
national media sources, including the Associated
Press, ITAR-TASS, Agence France Presse,
Reuters, Xinhua News Agency, World Tribune, Af-
ghan News, and others.