In the 1994 film Clear and Present Danger, based on the Tom Clancy novel by the same name, the president of the United States announces that drug cartels present a national security threat. In the 1990s it was not hard to imagine that the next threat would come from a nonstate actor since the Soviet Union, the United States’ and their allies’ only state threat, did not exist anymore. However, the attacks of September 11, 2001 shifted the world’s focus to terrorism. But threats from transnational criminal organizations, including drug cartels, are still a major threat to global security and is a threat that has not got a lot of attention.

As of 2011, transnational crime is estimated to cost 3.6 percent of total global GDP. 2 percent of that is from money laundering. The scope of transnational crime covers a wide range of activities from drug and human trafficking, to environmental crimes (illegal logging, dumping and poaching), money laundering, counterfeit medicines and cyber crimes. All of these represent a variety of dangers to populations and states. (more…)