The ultra-marathoners of human smuggling: defending forward against dark networks that can transport terrorists across American land borders

Author
Bensman, Todd
Date
2015-09Advisor
Nieto-Gomez, Rodrigo
Second Reader
Halladay, Carolyn
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
National legislation requires America’s homeland security agencies to disrupt transnational human smuggling organizations capable of transporting terrorist travelers to all U.S. borders. Federal agencies have responded with programs targeting extreme-distance human smuggling networks that transport higher-risk immigrants known as special interest aliens (SIAs) from some 35 countries of interest in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia where terrorist organizations operate. Yet ineffectiveness and episodic targeting are indicated, in part by continued migration from those countries to the U.S. southwestern border since 9/11. Should an attack linked to SIA smuggling networks occur, homeland security leaders likely will be required to improve counter-SIA interdiction or may choose to do so preemptively. This thesis asks how SIA smuggling networks function as systems and, based on this analysis, if their most vulnerable fail points can be identified for better intervention targeting. Using NVivo qualitative analysis software, the study examined 19 U.S. court prosecutions of SIA smugglers and other data to produce 20 overarching conclusions demonstrating how SIA smuggling functions. From these 20 conclusions, seven leverage points were extracted and identified for likely law enforcement intervention success. Fifteen disruption strategies, tailored to the seven leverage points, are recommended.
Rights
Copyright is reserved by the copyright owner.Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Targeting an Asymmetric Maritime Threat: Workshop Report
Regnier, Eva; Singham, Dashi (Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2013-01); NPS-DRMI-13-001Due to evolving maritime threats, including submarine warfare, piracy, smuggling, and coordinated attack by small vessels, several groups are actively developing tools to optimize the allocation of naval forces to detect ... -
Drug and immigration issues in the Mexico-US relationship
Garcia Silva, Joaquin (Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 1994-06);This thesis investigates the relationship between Mexico and the United States, specifically in terms of the impact of ongoing trends in drug smuggling and illegal immigration. The work begins with a review of the historical ... -
Application of big data analytics to support homeland security investigations targeting human smuggling networks
Hodge, Thomas A. (Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2018-03);Human smuggling organizations facilitating the smuggling of aliens into the United States have an unlawful network supporting their illicit transnational activities. Identifying those networks and the key facilitators is ...