Market Incentives Key to 21st-Century Security

A senior-level Stimson Center task force of industry leaders and national security experts has endorsed seven steps to close security gaps in global trade by better leveraging market incentives. Targeted at US government and private sector stakeholders, the recommendations will be unveiled today at an event co-hosted by the Stimson Center and the National Foreign Trade Council. Senior White House counterterrorism advisor Rand Beers will address an audience of private sector, government, and nonprofit representatives.

“Globalization has improved the lot of billions of people. But it also has empowered criminals and terrorists on a global scale,” said Jay Cohen (RADM, USN, Ret), who chaired the Partners in Prevention Task Force. “Illicit trafficking will continue to exploit gaps in global trade unless government and industry adapt through mutually supportive steps.”

Barry Blechman, vice chair of the task force and Stimson co-founder, added that modern security challenges elude even the best-resourced governments. “Today’s fluid and complex threat environment demands more innovative approaches. Market incentives can play significant roles as part of innovative strategies to undercut terrorism and illicit trafficking. Leveraging the resources, agility and expertise of the private sector is essential.”

Turning to specific ideas in the report, Cohen said that US exports are key to action in the near term. “We wanted to connect the strategic imperative with pragmatic steps forward. Given industry’s rising interest in the global marketplace, along with several major US government initiatives of relevance, US exports deserve top billing in current efforts to align security goals with economic competitiveness.”

The group’s proposals also address the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, security at US port facilities, and the trade-data platform known as the International Trade Data System.

The task force recommendations are the result of an 18-month Stimson collaboration with hundreds of industry partners spanning high-tech manufacturers and service providers, transport and logistics firms, and insurance providers. In addition to Cohen and Blechman, task force members included Ambassador Kenneth Brill, John Clancey, John Cogliano, Ashley Craig, Brad Gary, Ms. Ronnie Goldberg, Gary Gregg, Rupert Herbert-Burns, Peter Lichtenbaum, Michael C. Mullen, David Oliver (RADM, USN, Ret), and Rob Rosenberg. 

Brian Finlay, managing director at Stimson, explained how the group’s final proposals were rooted in the original concept for the project. “Developing a 21st-century toolkit will take the work of a much broader group of stakeholders, especially within the private sector. For this project, we wanted to identify a select but significantly diverse set of industry partners with whom we could demonstrate what the ‘new normal’ might look like. Thanks in large part to the leadership of Admiral Cohen and Barry Blechman, the response from both industry and government has been deeply rewarding. And we are genuinely excited to continue this work.”

The Partners in Prevention project has been made possible through keystone support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional financial support has come from the Carnegie Corporation of New York as well as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, part of the US Department of Defense.

The task force report, “Partners in Prevention: Making Public-Private Security Cooperation More Efficient, Effective and Sustainable,” is available online here.

The Stimson Center is a non-profit, nonpartisan institution devoted to enhancing international peace and security through a unique combination of rigorous analysis and outreach. The Center’s Managing Across Boundaries Initiative develops innovative government responses at the national, regional and international levels and identifies pragmatic public-private partnerships to mitigate these threats. Read more about the Stimson Center at www.stimson.org.