Organized crime, drug trafficking, and terrorism are three serious crime problems – each in their own right – facing the United States today. Historically, Americans have viewed these as serious problems, but as separate problems. And that was understandable, because historically, these problems were more separate and distinct than they are today. The common perception was that drugs are a danger only to the small percentage of individuals using or selling them; that the organized crime problem has been largely wiped out through the dismantling of La Costa Nostra over the last decade; and that any danger posed by terrorist groups was only present on foreign soil. Unfortunately, it may no longer be that simple.

The convergence of organized criminal activity, including drug trafficking, and terrorism is a growing concern to the United States and the world. Some experts in the field suggest that in a growing number of cases organized crime and terrorism are being jointly orchestrated, and further, that this trend could be developing into a global phenomenon. If true, we face a significant new challenge from both a law enforcement and a national security perspective.

Drug trafficking and terrorism are both illegal, and largely clandestine, activities. And they have a number of common needs: the acquisition of weapons; maintaining anonymity; hiding their assets through money laundering; and keeping a steady cash flow. And they have both found their hands strengthened through the ability to operate transnationally.

And it’s important that we bear in mind that for a variety of reasons, including the collapse and diminished prosperity of certain governments, state funding for terrorism is drying up, and terrorists are increasingly looking to crime for funding.

Criminal drug organizations can no longer be examined simply in the context of their drug trafficking activities. Drug cartels are more sophisticated than ever before.

They now have the resources and networks to engage simultaneously in other forms of criminal activity, including illicit arms trading, alien smuggling, technology theft, and terrorism. Drug cartels have the ability to move vast amounts of money in and out of legitimate financial systems.

And as a result of the increasingly globalized economy, the trend is toward deregulation, open borders, and enhanced international movement of people, goods and services. This global capitalism and free trade facilitates the ability of terrorists and their support networks to operate internationally. While insurgency and guerilla warfare were threats that characterized the cold war environment, it may be that terrorism and its coordinated criminal activity and drug trafficking will become a high priority national security concern in post cold war America.

There are a number of regions in the world today where the convergence of organized crime, drug trafficking, and terrorism is particularly apparent and troubling. The obvious example is South America’s oldest democracy, Colombia. Since the end of the Cold War, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (the "FARC") has expanded its use of conventional criminal activities to finance terrorist operations aimed at overthrowing the Colombian government. Its growth is directly related to its association with drug production and trafficking.

In Russia, organized crime groups have developed strategic alliances globally with drug traffickers, involving themselves in transhipment of cocaine and heroin in both Latin America and Central Asia. One notorious example of such an alliance was the 1997 Cali cartel attempt to purchase a Russian submarine – complete with crew – to circumvent interdiction efforts. What is alarming is that these strategic alliances may not be limited to narcotics. One especially disturbing, and not unrealistic, scenario is the possibility of a strategic alliance between Russian criminals and a terrorist group related to supply and shipment of weapons to be used in an attack here in the United States.

I am also deeply troubled that Afghanistan, a country controlled by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban, may be the world’s largest source country for heroin. Our best intelligence indicates that production is on the way up and that 96% of the heroin in that country is cultivated in Taliban-controlled provinces. I am interested in learning to what extent, if any, the Taliban is known to finance its military operations with narcotics revenue, as well as whether any known terrorists are involved with the narcotics trade in that region.

This morning we have some knowledgeable witnesses who will help us to better understand this global trend, and why it’s such a significant development requiring a well developed law enforcement and national security response.