NCJ Number
163867
Editor(s)
G H Turbiville
Date Published
1995
Length
268 pages
Annotation
This volume of essays explores the relationship between civil and military authorities from several vantage points, with an emphasis on drug law enforcement.
Abstract
In security environments where state institutions have been rendered ineffective by sweeping political change, war, internal challenges, or other factors, well-organized, cohesive, criminal groups with access to wealth and the latest technologies have been quick to fill vacuums or seize new opportunities. Organized crime in the form of arms and drug trafficking, the smuggling of strategic materials and other profitable contraband, extortion and robbery, hostage taking for ransom, sophisticated financial crimes, and other illegal activities are increasingly an integral part of ethnic conflict, insurgency, and civil war. As a consequence of such developments, the distinction between "high- intensity crime" and "low-intensity conflict" has become blurred. Similarly, there are many ambiguities, particularly overseas, between what traditionally have been law enforcement and military roles. These changes are occurring in a security environment that some specialists, including the co-authors of one of the essays presented in this volume, have called the "gray area phenomena." These include, according to the essay, ethno-religious- nationalistic conflicts, weapons proliferation, conflicts over scarce resources, the globalization of organized crime, and drug trafficking. Other essays examine the use of military-type forces to counter domestic threats. These focus on the use of Russian Internal Troops to counter the security challenges of civil disorders in the 1990's, the role of the Colombian military in countering narcotics trafficking, drug trafficking in Central Asia and efforts to combat it, and the dynamics of drug law enforcement in Peru. Three essays focus on interagency cooperation in countering crime across U.S. borders. For individual essays, see NCJ-163868-76. Chapter notes and a subject index