Political Science

The effective management or successful resolution of transnational crime is a significant concern for a nation and its leader. This is because transnational crimes do not only endanger the safety of the people but hamper the nations growth and peace as well. While there may be hindrances, like budget constraint, in the implementation of valuable strategy or policy on transnational crime it should still be the foremost concern of the president to assure that such issue is addressed and eventually settled.
One way to do this is for the president to be appraised of relevant pieces of information regarding transnational crime. In particular, it is necessary and helpful that the head of a nation knows the different types of transnational crime so as to work out budget limitation which the administration is unable to anticipate. Most importantly, it is by having an idea on the different types of transnational crime that the President will have an opportunity to focus on which particular transnational crimes requiring the administrations new policy.

This report is aimed at informing the President of the United States of the every known kind of transnational crime existing in the country today. Learning the various types of transnational crime will enable the chief executive to determine the negative implications of the said problem thereby allow for the carrying-out of efficient government approaches. Such fresh strategy or policy eventually downplays the harmful impacts of transnational crimes to the American people as well as the entire nation and other countries to which the crimes are performed. It is therefore important that the leader of the nation is informed of the existing varieties of transnational crime in order for him to prevent, if not stop, its damages to nations and the people.

Overview
The emergence and evolving harmful impacts of transnational crimes to the security of the U.S. and even worldwide stability are traced back to the conclusion of the Cold War which, with the rising globalization that started in the 1990s, has assisted criminals to build up their illegal undertakings hence achieve international scope and damage (Wagley, 2006). Since then, the different types of transnational crime have affected a nations technological and economic growths like the one being experienced by the U.S. Previous national policies have outlined the approaches that the President and his government did to solve the problem but still to no avail. This is because the types of transnational crime have significantly increased and continued to pose dangers to people of all nations.

Having no single accepted meaning of transnational crime, it was defined to comprise crimes whose inception, prevention, andor indirect effects involve more than one country (Mueller, 1998). In short, transnational crimes simply refer to offenses which happen across boundaries of every country or those crimes which traverse between nations. This element makes the qualities of transnational crimes contain border crossings as a fundamental portion of the criminal endeavor.
According to related literatures, the general types or samples of transnational crime range from people smuggling or human trafficking, trafficking of products like drugs and arms smuggling, sex slavery, money laundering, cyber crime, technology and nuclear materials smuggling, intellectual property crimes up to the extremely harmful terrorism (Farer, 1999 National Institute of Justice, 2007 Wagley, 2006). To realize their damaging effects, it is worthy to note that such kinds of transnational crime wear off the financial systems, economies as well as weaken democracies and the peacefulness of all affected nations like the U.S.

WMD and Terrorism
Wagley (2006) notes that there is significant link between terrorism and the existence or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or WMD. This is because WMD help terrorists with the performance of their activities which are both damaging to properties and fatal to the people. With a WMD-related threat, terrorists are capable and are loomed to create and utilize a nuclear attack. The existence of WMD results to the danger of nuclear smuggling. Such condition was already emphasized in October of 2003 when law enforcers and international intelligence officers uncovered that A.Q. Khan, a Pakistani nuclear scientist, sell nuclear technology to Libya, North Korea and some unidentified parties like transnational organized groups. In fact, concerned government agencies have estimated that a nuclear explosion on any American city is possible to kill more than half a million citizens and produce more than 1 trillion in property damage (cited in Wagley, 2006).

The most relevant example of the said type of transnational crime is of course the September 11 terrorist attacks which killed thousands of people (both American citizen and foreign nationals) and created great loss or damage to the financial and economical aspects of the U.S. Aside from such impact, the 911 terrorist attacks marred the stability of the nation by weakening its established status as one of the most powerful countries around the world. The event was attributed to the group of terrorist Osama bin Landen which has reportedly gained its terrorist power through their enrichment of WMD and other illegal undertakings.

Prior to the tragic 911 terror, WMD are already done in regions like the Soviet Union where nuclear material security was considered lenient hence they are smuggled from the country to other parts of the world. Considering the reports on the laxity of securing nuclear materials in Soviet Union and that former Soviet scientists could be bribed by the men behind transnational organized crimes, the U.S. State Department dispelled the idea when it operated nonweapons-related programs in Ukraine and Russiaan effort which appeared insufficient because the 911 attacks to the U.S still took place.

Drug Trafficking
Trafficking of illegal drugs has long been a problem not only in the U.S. but also to the rest of the world. Wagley cites statistical data which showed that around 17,000 Americans die annually due to illegal drugs. Additionally, a transnational crime like illicit drug trafficking are calculated to inflict some 160 billion in economic and social expenses and around 67 billion in direct costs to the country each year. Heroin and cocaine are considered to be the most profitable crime for transnational organized groups. Hence, this makes the illegal drug business in the global market with a value ranging from 500 to 900 billion internationally (2006).

In a more specific scenario or impact to the U.S., drug-related crimes and activities significantly influence the nations electoral system, challenge the American political standing due to de facto political representation and demoralize the rule of law in many Latin American areas. Corruption, violence and predatory conduct related with mafiya structures harmfully affect the American economic market and democratic structure. A transnational crime like drug trafficking not only threatens the safety of the public and the health of the people but also makes the human and social aspects of the country devastating (Farer, 1999).

Human TraffickingSmuggling
Human trafficking, both intended for forced labor or sexual exploitation is another big revenue source for transnational organized crime groups. FBI data shows that trafficking of
persons generate an annual income of 9.5 billion (Wagley, 2006). While there may be difference between trafficking in persons and human smuggling, the fact remains that such transnational crimes harmfully affect the U.S. This is because the said two international crimes affect the nation in terms of lessen or limited job opportunities and benefits for American citizens and that human smugglers possibly assist international terrorists enter the country and other parts of the world.

IP Crime
A transnational crime like intellectual property violations occur when there is illegal acquisition of an intellectual property mark. In turn, such crime interferes with legitimate global trade and results to big income loss to legitimate businesses or industries. The growth of business in counterfeit products two almost two decades ago has reached the revenue or sales loss to some 250 billion yearly (Wagley, 2006). Farer credits this kind of transnational crime to globalization which led to uncontrolled economy and which eventually harmed the American market (1999).

Money Laundering
Money laundering is characterized by an illegal investment, directly or indirectly, of earnings into legitimate financial agencies. In the U.S. and even to the rest of the world, the smuggled bulk of money or the illegal trades income is placed by criminals under the jurisdiction of financial institutions with lenient law enforcement and policies. As an example, it was estimated that money laundering in the U.S. is worth approximately two to five percent of the global gross domestic product or GDP (cited in Wagley, 2006).

Conclusion
The political unrest and economic stability of U.S. paved the way for the flourishing of the different types of transnational crimes. Aggravated by technological advances, transnational crimes have harmfully affected the objectives of the U.S. hence the need now for the country to go beyond its boundaries in order to resolve such crimes and bring criminals to the bar of justice. Ultimately, the government is encouraged to collaborate and exchange information with other countries to eventually create effective approaches aimed at fighting and stopping the above-mentioned types of transnational crime.