Catching Up to the Real National Security Threat: Transnational Crime

By 2030, the criminal landscape will change U.S. and European society as the more virulent and diversified transnational crime rapidly takes the place of the more familiar street crimes. Transnational crime’s structure and form is adapted to maximize exploitation of the new world order of global trade, finance, travel, and communication. Transnational crime’s explosive growth destabilizes emerging states, while corrupting institutions and infrastructure worldwide. Modern-day transnational crime is neither a logical extension of traditional organized crime (e.g., La Costa Nostra) nor street crime; rather, it is the product of two historical tipping points: the collapse of the Soviet Union and 9/11.