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Source: Europol
In January 2022, the Belgrade Department of the Serbian Criminal Police initiated an investigation into this drug cartel, believed to be involved in the wholesale trafficking of cocaine from South America to the EU. The law enforcement activities against this network extended to authorities across the EU and beyond, resulting in a large international investigation coordinated by Europol. The targeted…
Source: NATO
DIANA – the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic – has received proposals from over 1,200 applicants as part of its pilot challenge call to innovators and entrepreneurs. DIANA’s first challenges – which closed at the end of last week (25 August 2023) – focus on three priorities: energy resilience; sensing and surveillance; and secure information sharing.
Companies – many of them small start-ups – are competing for hundreds of thousands of euros in grant funds. Applicants will be evaluated by expert panels drawn from across NATO and industry, and DIANA expects to be able to issue the first grants to innovators towards the end of the year. The DIANA team will then work directly with the successful applicants – helping them to test their ideas, secure further funding and get commercial advice to help their businesses grow.
“My team and I are delighted with the overwhelming response and positivity from the Alliance’s innovators to DIANA’s first three challenges,” said DIANA’s Managing Director, Professor Deeph Chana. “It is testament to the hard work of the DIANA team – of which I’m extremely proud – and the significant talent pool that we know exists within the Alliance.”
Once DIANA is fully operational in 2025, it will run multiple challenges per year on various topics, with the capacity to work with hundreds of innovators each year across its network of accelerator sites and test centres. “The entire team and myself are looking forward to engaging with the successful candidates,” continued Professor Chana. ”We hope to expand on the success of our pilot programme in future years.”
For more information visit DIANA’s website: www.diana.nato.int
Source: Central Intelligence Agency CIA
Headline: Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Helge Boes
Feature Story: Helge Philipp Boes was with the Central Intelligence Agency a short time, but his entire life seemed to have pointed him towards the sense of purpose he found working for the Agency. Helge’s talent, tenacity, and presence of mind under fire earned him the respect of those far senior to him in experience. On February 5, 2003, Helge – a special operations officer who had served in the CIA for only 2 years – was killed in a training accident while on a temporary duty (TDY) assignment in Afghanistan. At the time of his death, Helge was the 80th CIA officer in 56 years to die in the line of duty.
Source: Central Intelligence Agency CIA
Headline: The Women Who Lived at CIA
Feature Story: Margaret Scattergood and Florence Thorne purchased a rural farm house on 20 acres of land in 1933. Neither woman could have predicted that within 30 years of purchase, their home would be enclosed on CIA property, behind its protective barriers, while hundreds of CIA officers came to work just a stones’ throw away.
Source: Interpol (news and events)
Headline: INTERPOL Chief meets with Iraqi Prime Minister to discuss security
28 February 2018
BAGHDAD, Iraq – INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abaidi to discuss a range of measures to identify and arrest foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) both within Iraq and abroad.
With ISIS/Daesh militarily defeated, the focus is now on law enforcement efforts to address the evolving threat posed by FTFs and investigate crimes committed on Iraqi territory.
The Secretary General headed an INTERPOL team in Baghdad which is liaising with the Ministry of Interior and its partners to identify areas for enhanced cooperation in relation to counter-terrorism, forensics and border security.
Evidence and information from the battlefield is playing a significant role in enhancing security around the world.
Biometric data recovered from Improvised Explosive Devices in Iraq and the Gulf shared via INTERPOL has already resulted in the identification of suspects in Europe and Asia.
“The INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Baghdad is one of the most active in the region, regularly sharing vital policing information,” said Secretary General Stock.
“Discussions have focused on how we can help Iraqi authorities to further strengthen the National Central Bureau and enhance the quality of information for successful investigations.
“We are now looking at a range of joint activities which will help achieve long term, sustainable results and benefits for the Iraqi security services,” added the INTERPOL Chief, who highlighted proposals to expand access to INTERPOL’s global databases to strategic locations.
Another potential area for assistance is through INTERPOL’s Project FIRST (Facial, Imaging, Recognition, Searching and Tracking) which focuses on biometric data sharing on FTFs.
Secretary General Stock’s mission to Iraq will build on outcomes from the Conference on mobilizing law enforcement efforts to defeat ISIS (Daesh) held in Washington DC this week and the recent Global Coalition Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS/Daesh in Kuwait.
Source: Interpol (news and events)
Headline: Developing the law enforcement response to an evolving ISIS threat
27 February 2018
WASHINGTON DC, USA – Senior justice and policing officials are gathering to identify how law enforcement can meet the evolving threat of ISIS (Daesh) as its fighters scatter across the globe.
With ISIS having lost most of its territory in Iraq and Syria, the International Conference on Mobilizing Law Enforcement efforts to Defeat ISIS will seek to establish a common understanding of the depth and breadth of the threat.
Global ‘tripwires’
Proven ‘tripwires’ for identifying terrorists, including watchlists, biometric data and finance tracking will be discussed, linked to the need for this information to be shared as widely as possible.
INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services Tim Morris said terrorist-related information shared via the world police body was having real impact in the field.
“Thanks to biometric data recovered from Improvised Explosive Devices in Iraq and the Gulf and shared via INTERPOL, suspects are now being identified in Europe and Asia,” said Mr Morris.
Cooperation equals results
“Warnings circulated via our global network continue to help countries identify and interdict foreign terrorist fighters as they attempt to cross borders. Where we see cooperation, we see results.
“We need to make sure that frontline officers get the information they need to take action. A country’s decision on sharing information, a name, a DNA profile, or fingerprints, can make the difference in our global efforts to protect citizens from harm,” added Mr Morris.
Participants were briefed on INTERPOL’s Project FIRST (Facial, Imaging, Recognition, Searching and Tracking) which helps countries to enhance security through biometric data sharing on FTFs and other terrorist suspects.
Database matches
A team deployed to Niger helped take photos, fingerprints and DNA from 179 prisoners, which resulted in two hits against INTERPOL’s databases.
One of the hits identified an inmate arrested in a terrorist training camp as the same person who had been fingerprinted in a Malian prison in 2014.
Building national capacity to conduct checks on the frontlines is an important part of INTERPOL’s counter-terrorism strategy. Making sure frontline officials can access the data on nearly 41,000 foreign terrorist fighters currently held by INTERPOL is a vital step in global security.
Organized by the US Department of State, INTERPOL and the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law, the two-day (27 and 28 February) meeting brings together senior justice and law enforcement officials and their diplomatic counterparts from some 90 countries and organizations.
Source: Europol
Headline: Two arrested in France for major CEO fraud
House searches in France have led to the arrests of two individuals suspected of large-scale CEO fraud. The criminals belonged to an organised crime group involved in at least 24 cases of CEO fraud causing EUR 4.6 million worth of damage. With the support of Europol, the French National Gendarmerie carried out the searches in Paris and Lille and made the subsequent arrests on 20 February 2018.
Source: United States Director of National Intelligence
Headline: Status Report on the Implementation of Executive Order 13698 Hostage Recovery Activities
“Within one year of the date of this order, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, in consultation with the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall provide a status report to the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism on the implementation of this order. The report shall be informed by consultation with stakeholders outside of the U.S. Government and shall, to the extent possible, be made available to the public.” (Executive Order 13698, Hostage Recovery Activities, 24 June 2015)
“Within one year of the date of this order, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, in consultation with the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall provide a status report to the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism on the implementation of this order. The report shall be informed by consultation with stakeholders outside of the U.S. Government and shall, to the extent possible, be made available to the public.” (Executive Order 13698, Hostage Recovery Activities, 24 June 2015)
12 Month Status Report Interview Questions
Interview Questions for the 12 Month Status Report on the Implementation of
EO 13698
Source: Central Intelligence Agency CIA
Headline: CIA Kicks-off Signature School Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago
Press Release: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) kicked-off its Signature School Program with a ceremony at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), a public university with more than 30,500 students, 15 colleges, and a hospital and health sciences system. The program will further the partnership between CIA and UIC by creating more opportunities for students and faculty to engage with CIA officers to learn about employment opportunities. UIC is the fourth university to join CIA’s Signature School Program.
Source: Central Intelligence Agency CIA
Headline: Making Black History, Today
Feature Story: In honor of Black History Month, CIA.gov asked current African American officers of different ages and backgrounds, with varying years of service and a variety of positions, to discuss why they chose a career at CIA and the legacy they hope to leave behind. These officers’ Agency experiences span the spectrum from analyst to engineer to graphic artist to operations officer with careers running in length from three to 17 years. Their reflections are highlighted and paraphrased within.