Embassy Press Release

REMARKS OF US AMBASSADOR NICHOLAS F. TAUBMAN AT THE OPENING OF THE SECI ENTERPRISE THEORY INVESTIGATION CONFERENCE

Bucharest, September 11, 2007

Director Mocnik;
Deputy Inspector General Corciu,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. I appreciate the opportunity to be here again with our many friends and partners from the SECI Center. And today, the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington DC, seems like the right day to talk about the vital importance of cooperation among international law enforcement professionals.

You have come to the SECI Center this week to discuss the threat of criminal enterprises and the best methods for detecting, disrupting, and dismantling these dangerous organizations.

Criminal enterprises pose both a social and economic threat to the new democracies in Southeastern Europe. If they are allowed to flourish, they create a climate of public corruption that can erode faith in the rule of law and the governmental institutions charged with insuring public safety and public order. Criminal enterprise is also a threat to legitimate commerce and the growth of free market economies.

Yet the challenges that organized crime groups pose to societies like ours go even further than those I have just described. These criminal enterprises also increasingly facilitate and support terrorist activities, both on the regional and on the global level. This includes terrorists who finance terrorism on the basis of illegal networks stretching across the SECI region and beyond. Too often, we have found that terrorists are bankrolled by drug and arms traffickers, to the extent that the traditional lines between organized crime and terrorist conspiracy are increasingly blurred.

Let me also say a word about the SECI Center. The United States could not be more committed and more enthusiastic about the work of this institution. We were here at the beginning. We have been involved in supporting this ground-breaking initiative since the beginning, and we will remain your partner. We have made real progress in combating some of the most serious challenges we face in the region, such as trafficking-in-persons. That is a lot to be proud of.

As the SECI Center’s operational effectiveness grows, the interest among leading U.S. law enforcement agencies in being represented here grows too. We want to see SECI continue to emphasize what must be its bread and butter: namely, exchanging law enforcement information, and coordinating trans-border investigations of organized crime. We think that this information should be freely and willingly given and exchanged. There’s no doubt easier said than done, because some members still find it difficult to provide complete and timely information. It goes right through the core of the effectiveness of SECI to be able to get prompt, timely information. Information that is two months old is not effective. We need information, SECI needs information that is willingly and quickly given by its members to control and administer law enforcement. But progress is being made every year, and I’m encouraged by that, because I know that there will be more progress in the future.

Clearly, the Romanian government will want to continue to serve as an enthusiastic and supportive host for SECI. Likewise, our hope and expectation is that more and more European governments, as well as the European Commission, will embrace the SECI Center and its vital work. There is a great deal that we can do together, if we pledge ourselves to practical, hands-on effort.

In closing, I’d like to return to the question of the 9/11 anniversary and its significance today. As we remember the tragic events which occurred in the United States six years ago today, we should be ever mindful that the war against terrorism is fought on many fronts. Criminal enterprise is one of those fronts, and you, as law enforcement officers, are the soldiers on the front line of this important battle. I thank you for your service and dedication on behalf of all of us, and wish you well in your continued work countering the threats we face, in common, in the 21st century.

Thank you for being here, thank you for serving and thank you for the good work you do.

back to top ^