 |
| Director
Mueller meeting with State Councillor/Minister of Public Security
Zhou Yongkang, People's Republic of China; Director General Hidehiko
Sato, National Police Agency of Japan, and Director Mueller. |
04/28/04
BUILDING
A NETWORK AGAINST INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM AND CRIME
Director Mueller Confers with Colleagues in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Tokyo
Have you noticed how
much crime has changed, even in just the past 5 years?
You don't have to look
very far past the violent and property crimes that plague local communities
to see that criminals from Nigeria are reaching for your wallet through
your own home computer...that Russian mafia are eying your credit cards...and
that Colombian and Asian drug traffickers are finding ways to offer illegal
drugs to your children. Then there are the ones you can't see but know
are out there in the world, all focused on money and mayhem: terrorists,
spies, and international traffickers.
This is not just a U.S.
problem. It's an international problem, one unique in the history of the
world--and it is challenging the heads of today's international law enforcement
agencies to work shoulder to shoulder against common, pervasive threats.
Last week Director Mueller
traveled to Asia with Assistant Director Grant Ashley to get down to specifics
with colleagues on issues like terrorism, cyber crimes, money laundering,
intellectual property rights, and international organized crime.
First stop,
Beijing--meeting with State Councillor/Minister of Public Security
Zhou Yongkang, Vice Minister of Public Security Zhao Yongji, Vice Minister
of Justice Zhang Jun, Supreme People's Procuratorate Vice Minister Sun
Qian, and Vice Minister of State Security Zhou Qing.
Second stop,
Hong Kong--meeting with Secretary of Security Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong,
Secretary for Justice Elsie Leung Oi-sie, and Acting Police Commissioner
Gordon Fung, and addressing Hong Kong's American Chamber of Commerce.
Third stop,
Tokyo--meeting with Secretary General for the Liberal Democratic
Party Office Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, Vice Minister
of Foreign Affairs Yukio Takeuchi, Supreme Public Prosecutor Akio Harada,
and National Police Agency Director General Hidehiko Sato, among others.
What was on
the agenda?
Many discussions were
specific to each location, centered on ongoing cases, threat assessments,
and joint operations and programs. But many more focused on issues common
to all, ones that go to the very heart of building an international policing
network that will most effectively, under the rule of law, prevent terrorist
attacks, dismantle criminal networks, and bring criminals and terrorists
to justice. Things like:
1. Sharing information
on threats, criminal cases, and terrorist investigations.
2. Enabling extraditions and renditions of fugitives.
3. Exchanging investigators to share expertise in joint investigations.
4. Training investigators in advanced, high tech and other crimes.
As Director
Mueller said in Hong Kong, "The era of global threats has
moved the Bureau in an era of global partnerships. The clear-cut divisions
of responsibility and jurisdiction that once existed between agencies--and
even between the United States and other countries--are becoming less
and less relevant. We cannot defeat international terrorism, for example,
without the help of old World War II allies and even Cold War opponents."
