Establishing the United States Council on Transnational Organized Crime, 71793-71796 [2021-27605]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 241 (Monday, December 20, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 71793-71796]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-27605]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 86 , No. 241 / Monday, December 20, 2021 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

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                Executive Order 14060 of December 15, 2021

                
Establishing the United States Council on 
                Transnational Organized Crime

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, I hereby order as follows:

                Section 1. Purpose. Transnational organized crime (TOC) 
                poses a direct and escalating threat to public health, 
                public safety, and national security. Transnational 
                criminal organizations engage in a broad range of 
                criminal activities, including drug and weapons 
                trafficking, migrant smuggling, human trafficking, 
                cybercrime, intellectual property theft, money 
                laundering, wildlife and timber trafficking, illegal 
                fishing, and illegal mining.

                These networks continue to expand in size and influence 
                in the United States and abroad. Transnational criminal 
                organizations contribute directly to tens of thousands 
                of drug-overdose deaths in the United States each year 
                and adversely affect American communities and economic 
                prosperity. They also threaten United States national 
                security by degrading the security and stability of 
                allied and partner nations, undermining the rule of 
                law, fostering corruption, acting as proxies for 
                hostile state activities, directly or indirectly 
                funding insurgent and terrorist groups, depleting 
                natural resources, harming human health and the 
                environment, contributing to climate change through 
                illegal deforestation and logging, and exploiting and 
                endangering vulnerable populations. In some regions, 
                transnational criminal organizations wield state-like 
                capabilities, disregarding sovereign borders, 
                compromising the integrity of democratic institutions 
                and threatening the legitimacy of fragile governments, 
                and securing their power through intimidation, 
                corruption, and violence. For these reasons, it is in 
                the national interest of the United States to counter 
                TOC. Addressing TOC requires a coordinated Federal 
                framework accompanied by a cohesive whole-of-government 
                effort executed in collaboration with State, local, 
                Tribal, territorial, and civil society partners in the 
                United States and in close coordination with foreign 
                partners, international and regional organizations, and 
                international and local civil society groups abroad.

                Sec. 2. Policy. Executive departments and agencies 
                (agencies) shall take actions within their respective 
                authorities, including, as appropriate, through the 
                provision of technical and financial assistance, to 
                enhance efforts to counter TOC. It is the policy of the 
                United States to:

                    (a) employ authorized intelligence and operational 
                capabilities in an integrated manner to target, 
                disrupt, and degrade transnational criminal 
                organizations that pose the greatest threat to national 
                security;
                    (b) collaborate with private entities and 
                international, multilateral, and bilateral 
                organizations to combat TOC, while also strengthening 
                cooperation with and advancing efforts to build 
                capacity in partner nations to reduce transnational 
                criminal activity;
                    (c) improve information sharing between law 
                enforcement entities and the Intelligence Community to 
                enhance strategic analysis of, and efforts to combat, 
                transnational criminal organizations and their 
                activities, while also preserving our ability to 
                speedily bring TOC actors to justice;
                    (d) expand tools and capabilities to combat illicit 
                finance, which underpins all TOC activities; and

[[Page 71794]]

                    (e) develop and deploy new technologies to identify 
                and disrupt existing and newly emerging TOC threats.

                Sec. 3. Establishments. (a) There shall be established 
                a United States Council on Transnational Organized 
                Crime (USCTOC), which shall report to the President 
                through the Assistant to the President for National 
                Security Affairs. The USCTOC shall monitor the 
                production and implementation of coordinated strategic 
                plans for whole-of-government counter-TOC efforts in 
                support of and in alignment with policy priorities 
                established by the President through the National 
                Security Council.

(i) The USCTOC shall replace the Threat Mitigation Working Group, 
previously directed to lead whole-of-government efforts on TOC under 
Executive Order 13773 of February 9, 2017 (Enforcing Federal Law With 
Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and Preventing 
International Trafficking). Accordingly, section 3 of Executive Order 13773 
is hereby revoked.

(ii) The USCTOC shall consist of the following members or their designees:

  (A) the Secretary of State;

  (B) the Secretary of the Treasury;

  (C) the Secretary of Defense;

  (D) the Attorney General;

  (E) the Secretary of Homeland Security; and

  (F) the Director of National Intelligence.

(iii) The USCTOC may request other agencies to contribute to the USCTOC's 
efforts as necessary, including by detail or assignment of personnel 
consistent with subsection (b)(v) of this section.

(iv) The USCTOC shall meet not later than 60 days from the date of this 
order and periodically thereafter.

                    (b) There shall be established a USCTOC Strategic 
                Division (Division), an interagency working group 
                housed at the Department of Justice, comprising 
                personnel from agencies designated in subsection 
                (a)(ii) of this section.

(i) The Division shall produce coordinated strategic plans for whole-of-
government counter-TOC efforts in support of and in alignment with policy 
priorities established by the President through the National Security 
Council. These strategic plans shall be informed by intelligence 
assessments, be developed in coordination with agencies, and include 
recommendations for actions by agencies. The Division shall submit its 
completed strategic plans to the USCTOC.

(ii) The Division shall be chaired by a senior official from the Department 
of Justice or the Department of Homeland Security. The Chairperson shall 
serve a 2 year term. The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland 
Security, or their designees, shall alternate every 2 years selecting the 
Chairperson.

(iii) The Division shall be established for administrative purposes within 
the Department of Justice, and the Department of Justice shall, to the 
extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, 
provide administrative support and funding for the Division.

(iv) Agencies designated in subsection (a)(ii) of this section are hereby 
directed, consistent with their authorities, budget priorities, and mission 
constraints, and to the extent permitted by law and consistent with the 
need to protect intelligence and law enforcement sources, methods, 
operations, and investigations, to provide to the Division:

  (A) details or assignments of personnel, who shall be qualified subject-
matter experts and strategic planners, and who shall serve on full-time 
assignments of not less than 1 year;

  (B) relevant information, research, intelligence, and analysis; and

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  (C) such other resources and assistance as the Division may request for 
the purpose of carrying out the responsibilities outlined in this section.

(v) To the extent permitted by law, agencies designated in subsection 
(a)(ii) of this section are encouraged to detail or assign their employees 
to the Division on a non-reimbursable basis.

(vi) The Division, within 120 days of the date of this order, shall submit 
to the USCTOC a report describing a process that the USCTOC can implement 
on an ongoing basis and as necessary to identify and prioritize the most 
significant TOC threats in alignment with policy priorities established by 
the President through the National Security Council.

                Sec. 4. Report. The Director of National Intelligence, 
                within 120 days of the date of this order and annually 
                thereafter, shall submit a report to the President 
                through the Assistant to the President for National 
                Security Affairs assessing the Intelligence Community's 
                posture with respect to TOC-related collection efforts, 
                including recommendations on resource allocation and 
                prioritization.

                Sec. 5. Definitions. For the purposes of this order:

                    (a) the term ``Intelligence Community'' has the 
                meaning ascribed to it under 50 U.S.C. 3003(4); and
                    (b) the term ``transnational criminal 
                organizations'' refers to groups, networks, and 
                associated individuals who operate transnationally for 
                the purpose of obtaining power, influence, or monetary 
                or commercial gain, wholly or in part by illegal means, 
                while advancing their activities through a pattern of 
                crime, corruption, or violence, and while protecting 
                their illegal activities through a transnational 
                organizational structure and the exploitation of public 
                corruption or transnational logistics, financial, or 
                communication mechanisms.

                Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order 
                shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or 
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with 
                applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.

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                    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    December 15, 2021.

[FR Doc. 2021-27605
Filed 12-17-21; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F2-P