Combatting Transnational Organized Crime
Transnational organized crime impacts a growing number of victims while amplifying other
consequential global challenges, from migration to cyber-attacks. Transnational criminal
organizations (TCOs) are involved in activities such as the trafficking of drugs and other illicit
goods, money laundering, theft, human smuggling and trafficking, cybercrime, fraud, corruption,
and illegal fishing and mining. These activities feed violence in our communities, endanger
public safety and health, and contribute to tens of thousands of drug-overdose deaths in the
United States each year. They degrade the security and stability of our neighbors and partners by
undermining the rule of law, fostering corruption, acting as proxies for hostile state activities,
and exploiting and endangering vulnerable populations. We will accelerate our efforts to curb the
threat posed by transnational organized crime, integrating the vital work of law enforcement with
diplomatic, financial, intelligence, and other tools, and in coordination with foreign partners. As
part of this effort, we will work to reduce the availability of illicit drugs in the United States,
especially the growing scourge of fentanyl and methamphetamines, by bringing all the tools of
government to bear to interdict drugs and disrupt TCO’s supply chains and the financial
networks that enable their corrosive activities. Recognizing that this is a problem with global
reach we will work closely with our international partners to stop TCOs from getting precursor
chemicals and work closely with private industry to increase vigilance and prevent the diversion
of chemicals for illicit fentanyl production.
Shaping the Rules of the Road
Since 1945, the United States has led the creation of institutions, norms, and standards to govern
international trade and investment, economic policy, and technology. These mechanisms
advanced America’s economic and geopolitical aims and benefited people around the world by
shaping how governments and economies interacted—and did so in ways that aligned with U.S
interests and values. These mechanisms have not kept pace with economic or technological
changes, and today risk being irrelevant, or in certain cases, actively harmful to solving the
challenges we now face—from insecure supply chains to widening inequality to the abuses of the
PRC’s nonmarket economic actions. We are endeavoring to strengthen and update the UN
system and multilateral institutions generally. Nowhere is this need more acute than in updating
the rules of the road for technology, cyberspace, trade, and economics.
By doing so in close coordination with our allies and partners, we will establish fair rules while
also sustaining our economic and technological edge and shape a future defined by fair
competition—because when American workers and companies compete on a level playing field,
they win.
Technology
Technology is central to today’s geopolitical competition and to the future of our national
security, economy and democracy. U.S. and allied leadership in technology and innovation has
long underpinned our economic prosperity and military strength. In the next decade, critical and
emerging technologies are poised to retool economies, transform militaries, and reshape the
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NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY
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