Public-Private Partnerships for National Security

Over the last few decades, globalization has yielded innumerable economic and development benefits worldwide. Yet our global interconnectedness has also facilitated the activities of transnational criminal groups. The Managing Across Boundaries program (MAB) brings together key government agencies, private sector stakeholders and civil society organizations to pioneer "whole of society" solutions to a broad array of transnational threats, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, trafficking of drugs, arms and humans, terrorism, and the production and sale of counterfeit goods. We solicit critical input from governments and corporations alike, and endeavor to help public and private stakeholders better understand broad transnational problem sets. Through analysis and outreach, MAB shares lessons learned across government agencies, among states and regions, and between the public and private sectors.

In 2012-2013, MAB will focus its efforts in Southeast Asia, South America, and across Africa. Functionally, we will hone in on opportunities for the private sector, driven by market-driven incentives, to do well by doing good. To that end, MAB will initiate and expand existing work with the following four industries:

The Security and Defense Sector

The undercurrents of globalization-from drugs, small arms, and human trafficking, to the proliferation of nuclear technologies, counterfeit goods, piracy and terrorism-threaten governments' capacity to build resilient and sustainable societies, and in turn, undermine economic and human development. As transnational criminal activity increasingly impinges upon legitimate business operations, private industry has a direct incentive to form partnerships with the public sector to build capacity globally, and meet these corrosive trends. In the last few years, MAB has begun engaging and working with leading security and defense companies to link innovative approaches, promote the use of advanced technologies, systems, and services, and contribute to higher-purpose needs around the world at a time of mounting security and development challenges.

The Dual Use Technology Industry

The freer flow of information and goods around the world has increased opportunities for bad actors to illicitly divert proliferation sensitive items. Yet many governments are hampered by sometimes outdated or misdirected regulatory barriers, creating uneven international competition, and ultimately helping foment troubled relations between government and industry. MAB seeks to identify a space in which dual use technology innovators and manufacturers can join government regulators in finding common ground in the collection and sharing of information regarding suspected proliferation networks.  Building such a partnership will increase confidence between industry and government, which will yield high impact results for nonproliferation at lower cost to private industry.

The Shipping Industry

Innovative transportation technologies have accelerated the transshipment of goods around the globe. However, as the global flow of legitimate goods has grown, so too has the transshipment of contraband - small arms, drugs, counterfeit products, and perhaps most worryingly, WMD-useable materials and technologies.  Often, transshipment controls and other regulatory measures to counter illicit trade have generated criticism from industry, which is frequently concerned with their ill-considered effects on competitiveness. Rather than focus on mandatory government regulation, MAB seeks to engage the shipping sector and relevant governmental agencies to create a template of "best practices" and foster meaningful partnerships that provide mutual benefit. By identifying industry interests, capabilities, and responsibilities to prevent the movement of illicit items, MAB aims to ultimately supplement formal regulations with industry self-enforcement.

The Insurance Industry

As part of our strategy to create collaborative security efforts between the private and public sectors, MAB currently partners with the insurance industry to promote the mitigative benefits of insurance and a market-based approached to trafficking prevention. Much of the burden for tightening loopholes that illicit materials and technologies might pass through falls to high-tech, biotech, manufacturing, and shipping firms across a broad array of industries. MAB is working with the insurance sector to create incentives for their clients to enact more rigorous enforcement measures.

The Pharmaceutical Industry

The pharmaceutical sector is being challenged by a growth in illicit counterfeiting-threatening both public health and the integrity of legitimate products. MAB launched a multi-year project examining the myriad issues surrounding the misuse of innovative biotechnologies in the US and abroad. For instance, working closely with this burgeoning sector of US and foreign companies, MAB developed stringent, but industry acceptable, standards for tracking dual use biological agents and toxins used to manufacture medical and pharmaceutical products. The program has also worked with both industry and government to develop security protocols to prevent counterfeiting, re-importation, diversion, and the misuse of pharmaceutical products. 

A subset of our recommendations was supported by industry and ultimately incorporated into President Obama's Health Care Reform legislation as it moved through the US House of Representatives. Additionally, regulatory changes have been adopted by the Food and Drugs Administration on the safe handling and management of "dual use" pharmaceuticals that are, bear, or contain so-called "Select Agents."

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