The global nature of illicit trafficking and how to address the transit of illicit goods took center stage during a workshop here April 30 and May 1 bringing together three combatant commands and a member of the Turkish National Police Academy.

U.S. Africa, Central, and European Commands gathered at the Defense Department’s George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies here to select and validate course curriculum for the center’s newest course called Countering Narcotics and Illicit Trafficking.

The workshop focused on the transit of goods as they make their way from source countries in the AFRICOM and CENTCOM countries to receiver countries in EUCOM.

“Discussions were aimed at aligning course material to meet the most pressing counter narcotics and illicit trafficking challenges in each of the three combatant commanders’ areas of responsibility,” said Joseph Vann, professor of national security studies, U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service faculty chair and director of the new Marshall Center course.

Vann said one of the highlights of the workshop was the participation of Dr. Onder Karakus, assistant Professor at the Turkish National Police Academy in Ankara, Turkey. “Dr. Onder’s contributions in the workshop marked the first step in academic cooperation in furtherance of the recently signed memorandum of understanding between the Marshall Center and the Turkish National Police Academy,” Vann said.

U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Michael Trimpert, deputy director of the Joint Interagency Counter Trafficking Center at EUCOM, and Russell Holland, JICTC’s counternarcotics program manager, provided insights on illicit trafficking issues that plague a number of European countries and threaten their national security.

“Captain Trimpert stressed the need to take a generational approach to combating this threat while Mr. Holland stressed the need to establish networks of security professionals who can collaborate across borders,” Vann said. “The subject of examining future roles for military support to law enforcement similar to the successful model realized by U.S. Southern Command and the Joint Interagency Task Force South received considerable discussion.”

Carl Funk, deputy chief of CENTCOM’s counternarcotics program, highlighted emerging threats resulting from the narcotics trafficking in the Central Asian countries. He also talked about the growing influence of terrorists groups and illicit narcotics traffickers in the region’s ungoverned spaces. Funk described corruption as “a major enabler that supports illicit traffickers.”

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kenneth Ferguson of AFRICOM described how Africa has become a staging point for Cocaine from South America and heroin from Afghanistan before it is transferred to markets in the EUCOM region. Trafficking related to synthetic drugs, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and precursor chemicals were also described as undermining governance and the national security of many partner African countries.

“Building capability in the context of whole of government approaches is an urgent need throughout the region,” Vann said.

In opening the workshop, Dr. Robert Brannon, dean of the Marshall Center’s College of International Security Studies, stressed the importance of designing a course that could be taught in collaboration with the other defense security cooperation centers.

“Key objectives of the course are to meet stakeholder’s requirements through teaching good governance and effective rule of law,” Vann said.

The course curriculum, which consists of more than 30 lessons, can be easily tailored to meet the needs of a wide audience ranging from policy makers to practitioners, Vann said. Designed by Vann and Marshall Center Counter Illicit Trafficking Instructor Prof. Michael Donofrio, the CNIT course will be showcased here to participants during the upcoming June 10-14, CNIT Community of Interest Workshop.