The threat posed by organized crime networks to national security and international stability, and U.S. policy responses to the threat, are examined by the Congressional Research Service in a new report (pdf) obtained by Secrecy News.
“Starting in the 1990s with the end of the Cold War and the advent of globalization, many criminal organizations ramped up their operations and expanded them worldwide.”
“Crime networks have exploited expanding trade and financial markets, while benefitting from rapidly advancing technology, broadened international travel, and improved global communications.”
“Mainly due to its clandestine nature, international crime is hard to measure. By the most conservative estimates, criminal proceeds comprise between two and five percent of global gross domestic product (GDP).”
See “Transnational Organized Crime: Principal Threats and U.S. Responses,” March 20, 2006.
Congress must enact a Digital Public Infrastructure Act, a recognition that the government’s most fundamental responsibility in the digital era is to provide a solid, trustworthy foundation upon which people, businesses, and communities can build.
To increase the real and perceived benefit of research funding, funding agencies should develop challenge goals for their extramural research programs focused on the impact portion of their mission.
Without trusted mechanisms to ensure privacy while enabling secure data access, essential R&D stalls, educational innovation stalls, and U.S. global competitiveness suffers.
Satellite imagery has long served as a tool for observing on-the-ground activity worldwide, and offers especially valuable insights into the operation, development, and physical features related to nuclear technology.