Month: March 2018

On 30^th March, Paul Hastings published a briefing on this US Act which President Trump signed into law on March 23^rd, as part of a broader spending Bill.  It enacted crucial statutory changes affecting law enforcement access to data stored by online service providers.  The Act aims to resolve conflicts between US authorities and service providers arising from law enforcement requests to obtain data that is stored abroad.  A number of service providers took the position that law enforcement requests only applied to data stored on servers located within the US and not abroad, even though the provider had the capacity to access the data and full remote control of the data.  One thing pointed out is that the Act allows certain foreign governments to directly serve legal process requests on US providers without any intermediary requests to the DoJ or involvement of US courts.   Prior to the CLOUD Act, when governments attempted to obtain evidence stored in another country, they often had to work through slow and cumbersome mutual legal assistance treaties (MLAT) and were required to ask the DoJ to obtain a court order for that information.

https://www.paulhastings.com/publications-items/blog/ph-privacy/ph-privacy/2018/03/30/cloud-act-implements-crucial-statutory-changes-affecting-law-enforcement-access-to-data

In his final Power Vertical podcast for Rferl on 30^th March, Brian Whitmore (with Mark Galeotti) looks back over 7 years of covering Russia and what has happened, what was got right and what was got wrong, covering things like the Pussy Riot case, the rise of Aleksei Navalny, the Russian annexation of Crimea and intervention in the Donbas, and Vladimir Putin’s hybrid war on the West.  Always interesting, this perhaps even more so in light of recent developments, putting matters more in perspective and context.  Apparently, the podcast will continue in some form.

https://www.rferl.org/a/podcast-the-farewell-veretical/29134200.html

If you want to read the reasons given for the UN listing individuals and entities related to ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities sanctions go to –

https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/en/sanctions/1267/aq_sanctions_list/summaries

On 29^th March, the relevant UN Security Council Sanctions Committee added 1 entry to its sanctions list – KHATIBA IMAM AL-BUKHARI (KIB), for being associated with ISIL or Al-Qaida for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of”, “recruiting for”, “otherwise supporting acts or activities of ” and “other acts or activities indicating association with” Al-Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant.  Information on KIB and the reasons for its listing can be found at –

https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/en/sanctions/1267/aq_sanctions_list/summaries/entity/khatiba-imam-al-bukhari-%28kib%29

https://www.un.org/press/en/2018/sc13271.doc.htm

On 30^th March, Shearman & Sterling published an article saying that FATF has published its report to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.  In the report, FATF reiterates its commitment to tackle all sources, techniques and channels used in terrorist financing and to continue its work to increase financial transparency and improve the environment for remittances.  The report provides an update on workstreams –

• strengthening the FATF’s institutional basis, governance and capacity;
• countering the financing of terrorism and proliferation;
• improving transparency and the availability of beneficial ownership information;
• supporting financial inclusion and access to regulated financial services;
• bank de-risking and the impact on remittances;
• FATF engagement with judges and prosecutors to improve the effectiveness of the criminal justice system; and
• the risks and opportunities of FinTech, RegTech and virtual currencies

A further update will be provided in November/December 2018.

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/financial-action-task-force-report-to-20877/

The report is available at –

http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/FATF-G20-FM-CBG-March-2018.pdf

The Caracas Chronicles on 30^th March reported that Panama has adopted the lists published by other countries about Venezuelan citizens (natural, judicial or final beneficiaries) politically exposed (PEP) to money laundering and the financing of terrorism, in order to prevent these crimes. The Panamanian National Committee against Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction issued 2 resolutions, one about the prevention of acts of terrorism by the UN Security Council, and another urging the countries to adopt policies and procedures to limit PEP operations and transactions. In the case of Venezuela, about 55 natural persons and 16 companies have been listed.  Panama is the first Latin American country to adopt measures against Venezuelan government officials.  The article lists some of the names included.

https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2018/03/30/panamas-purge/?src=ilaw

The document containing the list can be seen at –

http://rijock.blogspot.com/

On 29^th March, Homeland Security Today in the US reported that port control units trained under a US-backed initiative to boost interdiction of illegal good in shipping containers intercepted 45.5 tons of cocaine in Latin America and the Caribbean last year, the UN said in a recently released annual summary report.  The UNODC Container Control Programme (CCP) offers training “to build capacity in countries seeking to improve risk management, supply chain security and trade facilitation in sea, land and airports in order to prevent the cross-border movement of illicit goods”.  Referring to UN SCR 1540 which “establishes legally binding obligations to develop and enforce appropriate legal and regulatory measures against the proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons and their means of delivery”, the article says that the programme focuses on the control of imports, exports and transit of commodities subject to licensing or authorisation, namely strategic trade controls on WMD, dual-use goods, and CBRNE materials.  The UN report noted that air cargo is “at high risk of exploitation by organized criminal groups and terrorist organisations that exploit weak, ineffective and inconsistent border controls at airports”.  In September 2017, the CCP also launched its “Chemical check-I” operation with Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to prevent trafficking of chemicals and associated substances through international supply chains.

https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/maritime-security/building-better-port-security-through-global-training-spot-illicit-cargo/

The UN report itself is at –

https://www.unodc.org/documents/Container-control-programme/17-08688_CCP_AR2017_eBook.pdf

 

On 29^th March, the Head of Enforcement and Engagement for the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) launched his blog on GOV.UK promising to report about future events, new guidance and key issues in compliance and enforcement.

https://ofsi.blog.gov.uk/2018/03/29/enforcement-and-engagement/

CTC SENTINEL: MARCH 2018 EDITION

On 29^th March, the March edition of West Point’s Combat Terrorism Center CTC Sentinel online magazine was published.

https://ctc.usma.edu/march-2018/

This issue focuses on counterterrorism challenges in Africa as April marks the 4-year anniversary of Boko Haram’s kidnapping of as many as 276 schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria.  One article compares and contrasts the terrorist calculus in this earlier hostage crisis with the kidnapping of 111 schoolgirls in Dapchi, Nigeria, last month, which also resulted in many of the girls being released.  This is considered in an article that says that nearly 4 years since Boko Haram’s kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigerian jihadis again carried out a mass kidnapping — this time of more than 100 schoolgirls in Dapchi in February 2018.  The behind-the-scenes manoeuvring of the Abubakr Shekau-led group in the aftermath of the Chibok kidnapping showed even the most hardline jihadis were prepared to negotiate.  The group behind the new kidnapping — reportedly the Islamic State’s Wilayat West Africa led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi — took a different approach than the mercurial and publicity-hungry Shekau.  Among other reasons, the Dapchi girls, unlike most of the Chibok girls, were Muslim who from the group’s point of view needed to be ‘rescued’ from and warned about their ‘Western’ education.  With Wilayat West Africa’s release of almost all of the girls taken from Dapchi 1 month after the kidnapping, it has carried out one of the most effective — and most surprising — propaganda coups in the history of the jihadi insurgency in Nigeria while also solidifying its position as the preeminent jihadi force in Nigeria.

https://ctc.usma.edu/the-terrorist-calculus-in-kidnapping-girls-in-nigeria-cases-from-chibok-and-dapchi

Other articles include –

ISLAMIC STATE CHEMICAL WEAPONS: A CASE CONTAINED BY ITS CONTEXT?

This says that there is some evidence that the Islamic State has transferred its chemical warfare (CW) expertise from the battlefield to its foreign terrorism activities.  Despite this development, Islamic State appears to put scant organisational stock into the use of CW to advance its strategic goals.  Though this lack of enthusiasm cannot be confirmed without secret intelligence or broad primary source data, the Islamic State’s most obvious means of threatening CW attacks — its affiliated propaganda organs — appear to lack any mention of CW events, prowess, or alleged planning.  Ultimately, the Islamic State CW experiment seems to predict little about the future of the group’s chemical terrorism.

https://ctc.usma.edu/islamic-state-chemical-weapons-case-contained-context/

ANSAROUL ISLAM AND THE GROWING TERRORIST INSURGENCY IN BURKINA FASO

With another African state seemingly falling to be affected by Islamic extremists, this article says that since last year, jihadi attacks in northern Burkina Faso have been steadily on the rise.  These have largely been attributable to a newly established but understudied jihadi group, Ansaroul Islam, which has its roots in the ongoing insurgency in Mali and is linked to the al-Qaida network in the Sahel.  Its budding insurgency greatly threatens the security of Burkina Faso and neighbouring countries.  State responses to the violence have been heavy-handed, which only furthers the cause of Ansaroul Islam. 

https://ctc.usma.edu/ansaroul-islam-growing-terrorist-insurgency-burkina-faso/

BLACK BANNERS IN SOMALIA: THE STATE OF AL-SHABAAB’S TERRITORIAL INSURGENCY AND THE SPECTER OF THE ISLAMIC STATE

For the past year and a half, al-Shabaab has continued to take advantage of the ongoing political and security turmoil between Somalia’s federal government, regional state administrations, and other powerful social groups, including the country’s clans and sub-clans and minority groups.  Militarily, the jihadi-insurgent group retains significant capabilities to launch a range of attacks targeting both military and “soft” targets, including major suicide-vehicle bombings inside the most secure areas of the country such as central Mogadishu.  In 2017, the group also overran a number of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali government military bases and forcefully reasserted itself in the northern Puntland region.  Meanwhile, the Islamic State in Somalia, al-Shabaab’s main jihadi competitor, continues to lag behind it in terms of numbers, military capabilities, and media reach, though there are recent signs that the Islamic State-Somalia has been able to penetrate more deeply into the Afgooye area to the west of the capital and outside of its Puntland base.

https://ctc.usma.edu/black-banners-somalia-state-al-shabaabs-territorial-insurgency-specter-islamic-state/

Rferl on 28^th March reported that amphibious armoured-personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, off-road transport trucks, tanker trucks, and trailers were among some 200 objects that were seized by Ukrainian police after being offered for sale online.  The vehicles were discovered by police while investigating an oil pipeline leak in the town of Novohrad-Volynskiy, which is the headquarters for several Ukrainian military units.  The article says that the seizure has sparked a scandal in Ukrainian defence circles and shone a light on a murky online marketplace where equipment made for the battlefields of eastern Ukraine is being offered for sale.  However, it has been suggested that suggested that the vehicles were more likely to have been military surplus bought by civilians under a government decree signed in 2008.

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-police-bust-online-market-military-equipment/29130630.html