[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11948-11949]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




BLOCKING PROPERTY OF TRANSNATIONAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS--MESSAGE FROM 
        THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 112-46)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs and ordered to be printed:

To the Congress of the United States:
  Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an 
Executive Order (the ``order'') declaring a national emergency with 
respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat that significant 
transnational criminal organizations pose to the national security, 
foreign policy, and economy of the United States.
  Organized crime is no longer a local or regional problem; it has 
become a danger to international stability. Significant transnational 
criminal organizations have become increasingly sophisticated and 
dangerous to the United States, and their activities have reached such 
scope and gravity that they destabilize the international system. These 
groups have taken advantage of globalization and other factors to 
diversify their geographic scope and range of activities. They have 
increased and deepened their ties to governments and the international 
financial system, relying not only on bribery and violence, but also 
more and more on the ability to exploit differences among countries and 
to create and maintain legal facades to hide illicit activities.
  The specific harms that significant transnational criminal 
organizations threaten today are many. They corrupt--and in some cases 
co-opt--governments, thereby destabilizing them and weakening 
democratic institutions and the rule of law. They threaten U.S. 
economic interests by subverting, exploiting, and distorting legitimate 
markets, and could gain influence in strategic sectors of the world 
economy.
  Significant transnational criminal organizations that engage in 
cybercrime threaten sensitive public and private computer networks, 
undermine the integrity of the international financial system, and 
impose costs on the American consumer. Those that engage in the theft 
of intellectual property not only erode U.S. competitiveness, but also 
endanger the public health and safety through the distribution of 
tainted and counterfeit goods.

[[Page 11949]]

Many of them also engage in drug trafficking.
  Finally, significant transnational criminal organizations 
increasingly support the activities of other dangerous persons. Some of 
these organizations are involved in arms smuggling, which can 
facilitate and aggravate violent civil conflicts. Others are involved 
in human smuggling, exacerbating the problem of forced labor. There is 
also evidence of growing ties between significant transnational 
criminal organizations and terrorists.
  The Executive Order I have issued today is one part of a 
comprehensive strategy to address the growing threat of transnational 
organized crime. The order targets significant transnational criminal 
organizations and the networks that support them, striking at the core 
of those networks--their ability and need to move money. It does this 
by blocking the property and interests in property of four 
transnational criminal organizations, listed in the Annex to the order, 
that currently pose significant threats to U.S. domestic and foreign 
economic interests, as well as to U.S. promotion of transparency and 
stability in the international political and financial systems. The 
order provides criteria for the further blocking of persons determined 
by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Attorney 
General and the Secretary of State:
  to be a foreign person that constitutes a significant transnational 
criminal organization;
  to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, 
material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in 
support of, any person whose property and interests in property are 
blocked pursuant to the order; or
  to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act 
for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property 
and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the order.
  I have delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury the authority, in 
consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, to 
take such actions, including the promulgation of rules and regulations, 
and to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be 
necessary to carry out the purposes of the order.
  The order is effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on July 
25, 2011. All executive agencies of the United States Government are 
directed to take all appropriate measures within their authority to 
carry out the provisions of the order.
  I am enclosing a copy of the Executive Order I have issued.
                                                        Barack Obama.  
The White House, July 24, 2011.

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