The FBI together with the German
Federal Criminal Police (BKA) and the George C. Marshall European
Center for Security Studies will be co-hosting an international
conference entitled "Corruption Within Security Forces:
A Threat to National Security," in Garmisch-Partenkirchen,
Germany on May 14-18, 2001.
This is a second in a series
of conferences hosted by the FBI, the Marshall Center and the
BKA to examine the threat that organized crime poses to national
security and regional stability. This year's conference will
focus on corruption of government officials and processes within
security forces: law enforcement, customs and border control
and military service.
The conference objectives are
to evaluate the threat that corruption within security forces
poses to the development of democratic processes and institutions;
and its impact on force protection, national security and regional
stability; determine what is required for the early and successful
identification and containment of corruption within the security
forces; review the effectiveness of measures that have been used
to combat and contain corruption; and to propose measures and
processes that should be implemented domestically and transnationally
to eliminate corruption within security forces. Specifically,
a large portion of the conference will address the issues of
weapons smuggling and illegal immigrants; two problems that are
of major concern to all countries slated to attend the Garmisch
meetings.
Scheduled participants number
more than 120 from nearly 30 countries of North America and Eurasia.
Included on the attendee list are more than 15 Ministers or
Members of Parliament and numerous heads of national agencies
that deal with corruption or national security, such as Security
Services, Customs, Criminal Investigations, Justice, Defense
and Counter-Intelligence, as well as representatives of international
organizations such as Europol, the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Organization of Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The FBI will be represented by
Assistant Directors of the Criminal Investigative Division (CID),
and the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR); and officials
from the Office of General Counsel, the New York Field Office
and the Organized Crime and Corruption/Civil Rights Sections
of the CID.
News media representatives interested
in more information regarding the conference or in covering the
event may contact Debbie Weierman at the FBI National Press Office
at (202) 324-8055 prior to Friday May 11; or at the George C.
Marshall Center in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany at 011 49
8821 750543 starting Saturday, May 12.
The Marshall Center maintains
an academic policy of "non-attribution," but the Public
Affairs Office of the Center and FBI Media Representative Debbie
Weierman will seek to accommodate advance requests for interviews
with distinguished guest speakers following their presentations
or other requests for coverage of the conference.