TraCCC

Due to the international dimension of organized crime, which allows these networks to operate across sovereign borders, no one country defending alone against them can be assured international and homeland security or safety from terrorist organizations with criminal links. Organized crime groups are involved in an eclectic array of activities ranging from trafficking in human beings, to the illegal sales of weapons, narcotics, and nuclear material, and in money laundering to hide the proceeds from these illicit industries. The study of transnational crime identifies and explores these activities and the political, social and economic transformations that have facilitated them. Understanding the range of instruments and policy responses available to governments and law enforcement agencies, acting individually and collectively, is essential towards efforts to effectively contain transnational criminal activity, contain and fight corruption, and disrupt or dismantle transnational criminal organizations.

TraCCC is very active in its response to the needs of national and international security practitioners and policymakers regarding transnational crime. TraCCC's 2000 Annual Conference addressed how information technology both enables transnational criminal activity as well as how law enforcement can harness information technology to address illicit activities. In Fall 2001, TraCCC organized a conference under the sponsorship of the McCormick Tribune Foundation entitled Transnational Crime and Peacekeeping: Comparative Perspectives that addressed these issues through the context of the Balkan region and Colombia. Both conferences were interdisciplinary and included various points of view from U.S. and international experts. Reports are available for both conferences. Finally TraCCC maintains an active presence in major studies and commissions studying security issues such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear threats from terrorists, illegal weapons export, identity fraud and transnational crime as a security threat.