On 9 October 2024, Professor Anne Moisan, along with Fahad Malaikah from the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, in partnership with USAFRICOM, conducted Part II/II of the Transnational Threats Workshop series entitled “The Global Panorama of Transnational Threats: GPC, Terrorism and Crime.” This no-cost virtual roundtable discussion concluded the 2024 NESA-AFRICOM workshop series, as well as the 2024 Transnational Threats series. The group of 19 came from ten countries from Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, and the U.S. All participants are long-standing Tier I NESA Center Alumni who have attended numerous NESA-AFRICOM Workshops including past Transnational Threats Workshops.
The group was intended to be small and by name invitation only. The venue allowed the group to deep dive into one of the elements introduced in the recent Transnational Threats Transcends Borders Workshop held in Casablanca, Morocco, 5–7 May 2024. Professor Celina Realuyo, from the William J. Perry Center (WPJC) for Strategic Studies, kicked off the discussion with her presentation on “The Global Panorama of Transnational Threats,” where we examined the complexity of the world of the 21st century and globalized threats such as GPC, the renewed rise of terrorism, devastating impacts of corruption, and the exponential increase in illicit criminal activities that has expanded into the cyber realm. The discussion was held under Chatham House Rule.
The virtual session was structured to engage participants in a practical dialogue to gain insights to the realities on the ground; how countries can best leverage limited resources; and the advantages of cooperation with an eye towards the future. Not surprising, the war in Gaza; the ineffectiveness of U.S. policies to influence Israeli actions; women’s involvement in peace building and policy development; and the challenge of deterring state, non-state and terrorist groups were also explored and took center stage.
Many of these topics we will again pick up and look at more closely in the 2025 Transnational Threats series in its 9th year of partnership with USAFRICOM, Professor Celina Realuyo from the WPJC, and our Latin American colleagues.