Collaborative Consumption: Evaluating the Convergence between Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime and Its Implications for the National Security of the United States (2014)

I. INTRODUCTION The United States indicted Jamal Yousef with one count of narco-terrorism conspiracy in July of 2009 following his arrest in New York City. (1) Yousef had allegedly been negotiating with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent posing as a representative of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) for the exchange of military-grade weapons for hundreds of kilograms of cocaine. (2) Yousef claimed that the weapons had been stolen from Iraq and stored in Mexico at the home of a relative who was a member of the Hezbollah organization based in Lebanon. (3) The growing convergence of terrorism and transnational organized crime, as exemplified by the account of Jamal Yousef, may be the defining national security threat facing the United States in the twenty-first century. (4) Yet the major fallacy in the identification and assessment of this threat resides in the failure to acknowledge the extent of this convergence. (5) Examples of this disturbing trend can be seen in parts of Mexico, as well as the Tri-Border Area of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil (TBA). (6) In these areas, increasingly sophisticated methods of cooperation between designated terrorist organizations and transnational criminal syndicates have been observed in recent years, and this pattern continues to escalate as globalization allows these groups to easily communicate and synergize operations. (7) This Note will examine and analyze the rapidly growing collaboration of these groups in the TBA and Mexico. (8) In Part II, this Note will discuss the executive orders and legislation in the United States describing the process of designating specific groups as either a Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) or Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). (9) Part III of this Note will examine the historical and present interactions between organized crime and terrorism in the TBA and Mexico. (10) In Part IV, this Note will analyze the growing confluence among these once-distinct groups and its implications for the national security of the United States. (11) Additionally, this Note will suggest that the United States should engage in a more comprehensive process of identification and designation of these groups to more efficiently combat the potential threat of this nexus. (12) Finally, Part V will conclude that the threat from the growing convergence of terrorist groups and TCOs is presenting a national security threat to the United States. (13) II. FACTS A. Designation as a TCO in the United States On July 24, 2011, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13581, Blocking Property of [TCOs] (EO 13581), which addressed, for the first time, the gravity and potential implications of organized crime on the international economic and political arena. (14) EO 13581 specifically provides for monetary sanctions for any person who provides financial, material or technological to a designated TCO. (15) Furthermore, it directs that any interest or property within the jurisdiction of the United States affiliated with the aforementioned support may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn or otherwise dealt in. (16) Lastly, it vests complete decision making and oversight for such sanctions with the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State. (17) For an organization to be designated a TCO it must exhibit three distinct characteristics. (18) First, the organization must consist of one or more foreign persons. (19) Second, these persons must engage in an ongoing pattern of criminal activity involving the jurisdictions of at least two foreign states. (20) Finally, the organization must threaten the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States. (21) There are currently five officially designated TCOs that fall under the jurisdiction of EO 13581. (22) This list includes: The Brother's Circle, Yakuza, Camorra, Los Zetas, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). …