WEBINAR RECAP: Stopping Terrorism at the Border

On March 5, NCITE hosted a webinar with Jorge Comas, director of the Counter Network Division at U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) National Targeting Center. The discussion was moderated by NCITE Director Gina Ligon, Ph.D.

Comas provided an expert’s view of the realities of counterterrorism at the U.S. border, emphasizing the critical role of intelligence, technology, and interagency collaboration in mitigating homeland security threats.

Key Takeaways

The Role of the National Targeting Center and Counter Network Division

Comas outlined the role of the National Targeting Center, which, he said, collaborates with other agencies to identify individuals who could be affiliated with terrorism and criminal activity well before they reach the U.S. border.

• "We’re looking at basically the supply chain of, what does it look like for an individual to travel to the United States? What does it look like for a piece of cargo to come to the United States? And how do we identify those threats at the earliest possible point?" he said.
• As director of the Counter Network Division, Comas leads a team that focuses on identifying and countering illicit networks, including terrorist networks and transnational organized crime.

The Danger of the Convergence Threat

Comas spoke about the intersection of terrorist organizations and transnational criminal networks, using the example of ISIS.

• “A lot of the activities that they were executing on were human smuggling activities,” he said. “They were leveraging transnational criminal organizations to facilitate human smuggling.”
• Comas emphasized this threat, in particular, should be a priority for researchers at institutions like NCITE.

The Challenges of Emerging Technology

Comas spoke of the technology tools available to law enforcement to help stop criminal activity. But many of those same tools are being exploited by malicious actors, he said.

• “We are seeing both on the transnational organized crime, as well as on the terrorism side, these networks have become much more adept at using technology,” he said, specifically naming cryptocurrency and online communication tools.
• “The adversary is constantly looking at that latest innovation, and trying to figure out how can they leverage that as part of their illicit activities,” he said.