55 Fall 2024 Proceedings Army Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli delivers remarks during the 21st Theater Sustainment Command change of command ceremony on June 8, 2021, in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Cavoli assumed duties as commander of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe in July 2022. Army photo by Elisabeth Paqué The Joint Interagency Counter Trafficking Center Within EUCOM’s J9 is the Joint Interagency Counter Trafficking Center (JICTC), under the leadership of an active-duty Coast Guard officer. CAPT Jennifer M. Konon, an intelligence officer by specialty, super- vises the JICTC as its director, and oversees its three branches. The JICTC is EUCOM’s action arm for the Department of Defense (DoD) counterdrug and coun- ter transnational organized crime programs overseen by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics and Stabilization Policy (DASD CNSP).3 The JICTC’s mission statement is to support U.S. Department of Defense, interagency, and law enforce- ment partners to counter transnational organized crime in the EUCOM area of responsibility. The JICTC focuses on narcotics trafficking, Russian organized crime, Iranian threat networks, and violent extremist organiza- tions to promote global stability, build allied and partner nation counternarcotic capacity, and protect U.S. inter- ests abroad and in the homeland.4 Since its inception in 2011, the JICTC has evolved into a EUCOM theater joint task force5 and fusion center to counter transnational organized crime. This is defined as: … self-perpetuating associations of individuals who operate transnationally for the purpose of obtain- ing power, influence, monetary, or commercial gains, wholly or in part by illegal means, while protecting their activities through a pattern of corruption or violence or through a transnational organization structure and the exploitation of transnational commerce or communica- tion mechanisms.6 The JICTC leverages its unique authorities to assist U.S. federal government departments and agencies and U.S. and foreign law enforcement agencies in countering dangerous criminals worldwide.7 JICTC Branches The JICTC’s three branches each focus on different interagency engagements and work together to support EUCOM and DASD CNSP objectives. The operations and plans branch integrates DoD and interagency planning and activities and works closely with interagency U.S. country teams across the European continent, the intel- ligence community, allied and partner nation forces, and elements across the combatant commands. The intelligence branch fights transnational orga- nized crime, drug trafficking, and threat networks by providing analytic support to U.S. law enforcement investigations and operations. Its core capabilities include post-seizure analysis, network development, trend analysis, intelligence support to operations, and financial intelligence collection. Its investigative support combines a robust open-source intelligence capability with analytic prowess to deny and disrupt the funding of activities that support threat networks, providing EUCOM’s only counter-threat finance expertise. The capacity branch supports military-civilian secu- rity cooperation through law enforcement partnerships and engagements to build capacity and share informa- tion. It funds small-scale construction and supports counternarcotics training for international law enforce- ment partners. In short, the branch leverages targeted investment to improve interagency and international
