The Terrorist-criminal Nexus

"Chapter 1 A Poisonous Brew While organized crime is not a new phenomenon today, some governments find their authority besieged at home and their foreign policy interests imperiled abroad. Drug trafficking, links between drug traffickers and terrorists, smuggling of illegal aliens, massive financial [...]
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"Chapter 1 A Poisonous Brew While organized crime is not a new phenomenon today, some governments find their authority besieged at home and their foreign policy interests imperiled abroad. Drug trafficking, links between drug traffickers and terrorists, smuggling of illegal aliens, massive financial and bank fraud, arms smuggling, potential involvement in the theft and sale of nuclear material, political intimidation, and corruption all constitute a poisonous brew--a mixture potentially as deadly as whatwe faced during the Cold War : R. James Woolsey Former Director, CIA Al Qaeda works with the mafia. The mafia works with outlaw motorcycle gangs. Biker gangs work with white supremacists. Surprised? Ten years ago, when I wrote my first book on this subject, the number of experts who would acknowledge that a nexus may exist between terrorists and criminals could be counted on one hand. In fact, Mr. Woolsey's statement above was made in 1994, long before most people heard of al Qaeda, human trafficking andloose nukes. Unfortunately, the "poisonous brew" is becoming more toxic with time. Transnational organized crime is escalating, the cartels are global and undeterred, and the list of State Department Foreign Terrorist Organizations continues to grow. Transnational crime is a growing U.S. national security concern, and it threatens us in new, provoking ways. For example, Americans formerly viewed drug use as a law enforcement or health issue. Only very recently has drug trafficking been established as a global crime with a corresponding national security threat"--