Ronald Kenneth Noble is an American law enforcement officer, and the current Secretary General of INTERPOL. He was elected the first American Secretary General by the 69th INTERPOL General Assembly in 2000, was unanimously re-elected to a second five-year term in 2005 and subsequently to a third five-year term by in 2010. Under Secretary General Noble’s leadership, INTERPOL developed the world’s first global database of stolen or lost travel documents (i.e., passports) from more than 120 countries and the first global police communications system, called I-24/7 as part of its international screening process for terrorists and dangerous criminals. He created the world’s first international automated DNA database and another automated database aimed at fighting the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet.
Reinforcing the digital shield
Security agencies worldwide are facing an increasingly challenging scenario. The operational landscape in today’s mobile and digitized world has become more complex, as criminals take advantage of new technology, the ease of international travel and the vastly anonymous world of virtual business. Conversely, according to Interpol, the digital age has also opened up immense new opportunities to police forces – it’s just a matter of police to work with the industry to seize them. We spoke to the Secretary General, Ronald Noble, regarding the role Interpol continues to play in creating a framework for collaborative efforts to shield countries, communities and citizens from criminal harm.
How are technological advancements, in terms of tools and capabilities for policing, being deployed in the face of increasingly sophisticated criminal methods as new challenges emerge in the digital era?
Given the increasingly fast pace of crime committed and that of action needed to counter it – it is essential to provide policing across the world with secure communication channels and instant access to criminal data. In addition to providing these, building capacity in all our member countries to be able to use these effectively is also amongst Interpol’s foremost priorities. Partnerships beyond law enforcement are critical to deal with emerging threats and challenges. In today’s world, innovation resides in the extensive research & development fostered with the private sector. We must work together in forging alliances to pool our resources and reach our shared goals.
This context explains Interpol’s sharp focus on fighting cybercrime, to devise a dedicated setup to help policing tackle the threats of 21st century transnational crime. This is what will take shape – in brick and mortar – in 2014 as the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation’ opens in Singapore.
Apart from the specific threats and criminal activity inspired by cybercrime, have these new developments impacted on the ever-present struggle against terror threats and attacks?
They have indeed. Consider, for instance, last September’s atrocities carried out at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. This attack was not, in my view, just an isolated incident. It is part of a bigger picture – mainly because it came only days after Al Qaida’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had called the group, its affiliates and sympathizers worldwide to ‘bleed out’ its enemies, via frequent, small scale ‘dispersed strikes’ to be ‘carried out by one brother, or a small number of brothers’. This approach almost seems tailored around the new social media landscape to spread propaganda.
Or consider another instance from 2013, the Boston Marathon’s bombing in the United States. Not only was the footage of its occurrence and its aftermath seen live by viewers, shared online and tweeted worldwide in minutes, cybercriminals actually “capitalized” on this incident. Spam mails were sent out with links to seemingly safe videos with updates, only leading innocent users’ systems to be connected with IP addresses in Ukraine, Argentina and Taiwan – instantly making them potential victims of identity theft or fraud.
In fact, such criminal activity is a reminder of the ‘changing landscape’ that is faced by Interpol: where threats could be smaller, less detectable and much faster than before; where assailants could not be only backed by outfits or organizations, but act as ‘lone wolves’; where potential targets could multiply exponentially – 15 billion devices are connected to the internet – and this figure is growing.
There is indeed an evolution in threat messaging in the so-called ‘Information Age’. How does it fit in the context of how the world communicates today?
Certainly this phenomenon, being capitalized on by terrorist organizations is mirrored in broader cyberspace sense: 980 million on-line threats were detected by Kaspersky Lab, one of Interpol’s partners, in the second quarter of 2013 alone. In addition, Internet users have grown in 15 years from less than 200 million to more than 2.7 billion, ready to turn into cyber victims or cyber threats. And in the developing world smartphones are spreading 10 times faster than fixed Internet connections.
This means that a group like Al-Shabab, proudly taking credit for the Westgate Mall terrorist attack, can tweet its attacks in real time. I have already cited how cybercriminals could make use of a terror attack to further disseminate messages for targeting innocent civilians in any corner of the world.
Where does Interpol stand in regard to these trends, both in terms of its own operational developments and through collaboration with other organization whether public or private?
The malware I spoke about in the wake of the Boston Marathon Bombing was not identified by law enforcement or governments, but by Kaspersky Lab, one of Interpol’s partners in fighting cybercrime. Such partnerships, as I have already mentioned, are a key tool in dealing with the changing landscape of transnational crime in this century.
This is all the more pertinent in a world where demand for Interpol tools and support can only be projected to increase – while financial limitations continue to limit resources. In fact, Interpol stands at a crossroads. One which calls upon our member countries to choose between two possible scenarios. In the first, borders could see half a billion people cross them without being screened, businesses could be run by those with fraudulent identities, planes could be boarded by those wanting to do what we all wish to not let happen, and hotels could be freely checked into by terrorists. Meanwhile, stolen vehicles, illicit goods and fake medicines could find their way easily into our markets; while profits could be reaching criminals and terrorists unchecked. Cyberspace could become an atomic wasteland, where innocents and economies will be easily preyed upon.
In the second scenario – we could take measured risks with the support of our member countries; we could work on forging more partners and alliances, pilot testing projects with them and our member countries; we could work on developing long term ‘products’ to deal with crimes of today and of tomorrow. This is the scenario Interpol hopes to work towards.
How could collaboration for a safer world be achieved and what initiatives is Interpol currently engaged in?
Collaboration for bringing about a safer world needs to go beyond traditional frameworks that bind law enforcement and international police cooperation. It has to be inclusive; it has to combine resources, skills and experiences; it has to strewn through across the public, private and non-governmental sectors.
As far as Interpol is concerned, we have some ground-breaking initiatives which demonstrate what Interpol does best: innovation. The crime areas where our partnerships have been consistently increasing are numerous – ranging from illegal betting in sports to trafficking in illicit goods and counterfeiting – and to pharmaceutical crime. I have already mentioned the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation, which is scheduled to open up next year.
To design the next generation of Interpol screening tools, we have also begun working with the private sector. The INVEX project, which focuses on identifying stolen vehicle on the market is one such example. In partnership with four German automobile manufacturers, this project has led to over 1800 hits and hundreds of seizures. We are confident of now expanding this successful model.
In fact, Interpol’s I-Checkit project, which has entered its pilot phase is somewhat similar in idea. I-Checkit applies a simple principle to our databases such as SLTD (Stolen and Lost Travel Documents) and to businesses already required by law to check customers’ identity.
This principle is of alerting our NCBs with a hit in case of a match by any of our private sector partners while screening individuals. By doing so, the number of passports screened through Interpol’s databases could increase by tens of millions.
You have touched on identity in that last example. What other recent developments in terms of ID authentication has Interpol been involved in, such as DNA identification?
The purposes of identification go beyond the prevention of crime and this is another area on which INTERPOL is increasingly focusing.
Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) is a field where Interpol has been working to help our member countries confronted with disasters. Over 80 Incident Response Teams (IRTs) have been deployed by Interpol since 2002 to over 50 member countries – many of these have been with a specific objective of aiding law enforcement with victim identification. As you stated, DNA comparison, for example, is increasingly used for identification of missing persons or victims of disasters and other complex investigations.
Let me cite a case where Greek authorities requested Interpol to publish a Yellow Notice, or a missing persons notice, to identify a young girl found in a Roma settlement. This quest also involved requesting for the DNA profiles of those claiming to be her relatives, which we requested our member countries to share. Now, Interpol’s DNA Gateway currently does not allow such comparisons i.e. kinship comparisons.
Therefore, to be able to enhance our services to our member countries – services such as identifying missing persons based on DNA from relatives – Interpol is working with the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) to be able to complement our DNA Gateway with NFI’s ‘Bonaparte’ software.
Have there been any other successes in this regard such as in criminal investigations and illicit international trade?
There have been indeed. This year actually marks 15 years for Interpol’s work in using DNA for assisting with international law enforcement work. While the success stories are many, I will share two recent cases that speak volumes of the support by our member countries international police cooperation and the potential brings about. Using Interpol’s services, the identification of a man involved in a violent gang rape in 2008 in Norway, was made possible. Years after committing this heinous crime, following arrest for theft in Austria, a check against the Interpol DNA database confirmed the suspect’s identity. This led to his extradition and also to the identification of a second suspect.
Let me share the example of both illicit international trade and that of a non-human case, a field where the use of DNA comparison is increasingly used. In July this year, an Interpol Investigative Support Team was deployed to Sri Lanka for taking samples from over 350 elephant tusks. These tusks were seized from an illegal consignment. Using technology for comparing DNA profiles along with isotopic analysis, poaching hotspots could be located – helping law enforcement better target active criminal networks.