Good
afternoon. I am honored to be here today. I want
to thank Minister Lamperth for inviting me to join
you and for organizing the Ministerial Summit.
Our nations have come together to discuss ways we
can combat international terrorism and transnational
organized crime. Years ago, these were remote concepts.
Law enforcement agencies primarily focused on combating
crime within the borders of our own countries. Threats
to Hungary did not necessarily affect the Ukraine
or the United States. But today, all that has changed.
We live in the age of globalization, and our world
grows smaller every day. Airplanes, e-mail, fax
machines, and mobile phones made it possible for
us to coordinate this summit and travel here to
Budapest. Modern technology has made international
boundaries less and less relevant.
Unfortunately, modern technology has also made it
easier for crimes as diverse as drug trafficking,
corporate fraud, organized crime, and terrorism
to jump from Krakow to Kabul with the stroke of
a computer key or the push of a cell phone button.
Organized crime enterprises, for example, may be
based in one country, but can operate in dozens
of others. Terrorist groups may plan in Europe,
finance their operations in North America, train
in the Middle East, and carry out attacks anywhere
in the world. Criminals from far corners of the
world can communicate instantly and can form international
networks that are difficult to track.
Today, no single police department or country can
investigate and defeat crime and terrorism alone.
Because the threats we face are no longer limited
to our borders, we must confront these challenges
as an international community, as a united front.
We must reach across our borders to form worldwide
partnerships.
These partnerships begin with training. In the United
States, police officers come from around the world
to train at the FBI’s National Academy. Here
in Central Europe, officers from 26 countries train
together at the International Law Enforcement Academy
in Budapest.
At ILEA Budapest, officers learn the same terminology
and investigative techniques. They share their experiences
and expertise. They compare law enforcement strategies
and legal systems, and draw on each other for ideas
on how to improve them. They forge bonds of friendship
that transcend their differences, be they borders,
backgrounds, or beliefs.
And then these officers bring their new knowledge
and skills back to their own countries, raising
the caliber of every officer in the ranks. Frequently,
ILEA-trained officers become leaders in their agencies.
As leaders, they will work closely with law enforcement
leaders in other countries.
More and more, these leaders have something in common:
they are graduates of ILEA Budapest. They speak
a common language, and share a common mission. They
are not meeting for the first time across a conference
table. Connections they make at ILEA set the stage
for cooperation among nations.
Each time we celebrate the graduation of a group
of law enforcement officers, we celebrate something
larger--we celebrate the continued growth of our
partnerships. Because we recognize that the only
way to succeed against international crime and terrorism
is by strengthening our relationships, investigator-to-investigator,
officer-to-officer, and prosecutor-to-prosecutor.
By working together, we are forming a global law
enforcement network that is powerful and effective,
and it grows stronger every day. ILEA Budapest is
critical to building the bridges we need to communicate,
to investigate, and to prosecute. Without these
bridges, we cannot succeed. But with them, we cannot
fail.
