New task force to aid in countertrafficking efforts

U.S. European Command (EUCOM) has established a new task force up to aid U.S. government agencies in counteracting Europe’s growing trafficking problem.  EUCOM’s countertrafficking task force is modeled after U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force South in Florida, and is staffed by representatives from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency, and other U.S. government agencies.

Trafficking in illicit goods and services – including the trafficking in drugs, weapons, and persons – is on the rise in Europe, and is viewed as a national security threat to the United States.  Army BG Mark Scraba, director of EUCOM’s recently established Joint Interagency Counter Trafficking Center, believes that Europe’s central location and the challenges facing traffickers at the southern U.S. border have contributed to Europe becoming “the illicit trafficking intersection of the world.”  Scraba also notes that traffickers are aligning their efforts with other traffickers and also with terror networks.

Scraba describes traffickers as a “network of networks.”  In order to counteract traffickers, U.S. government agencies and the international community must also become a network or networks.

For more information about the task force and Joint Interagency Counter Trafficking Center, please follow the link below.
New Task Force Supports Countertrafficking in Europe, Department of Defense