Critical Releases in Homeland Security: January 29, 2020

From the Executive Summary: "The President's April 3, 2019, 'Memorandum on Combating Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods' calls prompt attention to illicit trade that erodes U.S. economic competitiveness and catalyzes compounding threats to national security and public safety. [...] Despite public and private efforts to-date, the online availability of counterfeit and pirated goods continues to increase. Strong government action is necessary to fundamentally realign incentive structures and thereby encourage the private sector to increase self-policing efforts and focus more innovation and expertise on this vital problem. [...] Government action alone is not enough to bring about the needed paradigm shift and ultimately stem the tide of counterfeit and pirated goods. All relevant private-sector stakeholders have critical roles to play and must adopt identified best practices, while redoubling efforts to police their own businesses and supply chains."

From the Executive Summary: "The prevalence of human trafficking, forced labor, and child sexual exploitation throughout the world is an urgent humanitarian issue with direct and far-reaching consequences on the United States. Within the United States, human trafficking and child sexual exploitation are grossly prevalent and affect diverse communities. These crimes threaten our physical and virtual borders, our immigration and customs systems, our prosperity, our national security, and are a direct attack on Americans' personal safety and our country's public safety. Accordingly, the United States has declared it a national priority to end human trafficking, the importation of goods produced with forced labor, and child sexual exploitation. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is on the frontlines of this fight, protecting the country and collaborating with our partners to stop these crimes. To leverage all of our authorities in this fight, DHS developed a first-of-its-kind 'Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking, the Importation of Goods Produced with Forced Labor, and Child Sexual Exploitation.' It represents our vision to end this urgent humanitarian issue, articulates the Department's long-term approach for combating these crimes, and serves as a framework to prioritize our resources and monitor progress."

From the Document: "Since May 2019, U.S.-Iran tensions have heightened significantly, and evolved into conflict after U.S. military forces killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and one of Iran's most important military commanders, in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad on January 2, 2020. In 2018, the Trump Administration withdrew from the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA), and since mid-2019 has taken several steps in its campaign of applying 'maximum pressure' on Iran. Apparently in response to the maximum pressure campaign, Iran and Iran-linked forces have attacked and seized commercial ships, caused destruction of some critical infrastructure in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, attacked facilities used by U.S. military personnel in Iraq, and downed a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle. As part of an effort its leaders term 'maximum resistance,' Iran has also reduced its compliance with the provisions of the JCPOA. The Administration has been deploying additional military assets to the region to try to deter future Iranian actions."