Peddling Peril Index

How well do strategic trade controls function to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and other WMD? The Peddling Peril Index (PPI) for 2019/2020 is the latest edition of our comprehensive and in-depth ranking of the effectiveness of national strategic trade controls. It ranks 200 countries, territories, and entities according to their capabilities and demonstrated success in implementing export, import, transit, and transshipment controls of strategic goods and technologies. These controls are key to thwarting the spread of nuclear weapons, other destructive weapons, and the means to make them to additional states and non-state actors. The PPI assesses the actual implementation of strategic trade controls by each nation, among groups of countries with similar supply potential, and thematically. It evaluates a broad set of 101 indicators that build on an extensive survey of national legislation, enforcement, ability to monitor and detect illicit trade, and ability to prevent proliferation financing. The PPI reflects more than two decades of work by the Institute on understanding and characterizing illicit nuclear trade. The PPI seeks to highlight where countries are leading or lagging in their implementation of strategic trade controls, and to provide a basis for countries to improve their efforts. The goal is to work for strengthened strategic trade control systems worldwide.

How well do strategic export controls function to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction? The Peddling Peril Index (PPI) is the first comprehensive and in-depth ranking of the effectiveness of strategic export controls by country. It ranks 200 countries, territories, and entities according to their capabilities and demonstrated successes in implementing export controls. These controls are key to thwarting the spread of nuclear weapons, other destructive weapons, and the means to make them to additional states or non-state actors. The PPI assesses the actual implementation of strategic export controls by each nation, among groups of countries such as suppliers and transshipment countries, and thematically. It evaluates a broad set of indicators that build on an extensive survey of countries' export controls, including international commitment, legislation, ability to detect illicit trade, proliferation financing, and enforcement. The PPI project grew out of more than two decades of work by the Institute on understanding and characterizing illicit nuclear trade. A 2010 book, Peddling Peril, by Institute founder and president David Albright, is the project's namesake. The PPI seeks to highlight where countries are lagging in implementing strategic export controls and to provide information and a basis for countries to improve their efforts. Its goal is to work for strengthened export control systems worldwide.

“THE UNLEASHED POWER OF THE ATOM HAS CHANGED EVERYTHING SAVE OUR MODES OF THINKING, AND WE THUS DRIFT TOWARD UNPARALLELED CATASTROPHE.” —ALBERT EINSTEIN With the revelation of Iran’s secret uranium enrichment facilities, North Korea’s brazen testing of missiles and nuclear weapons, and nuclear-endowed Pakistan’s descent into instability, the urgency of the nuclear proliferation problem has never been greater. Based on his extensive experience in tracking the illicit nuclear trade as one of the world’s foremost proliferation experts, in Peddling Peril David Albright offers a harrowing narrative of the frighteningly large cracks through which nuclear weapons traffi ckers—such as Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan—continue to slip. Six years after the arrest of Khan, the networks he established continue to thrive, with black markets sprouting up across the globe. The dramatic takedown of the leader of the world’s largest and most perilous smuggling network was originally considered a model of savvy detection by intelligence and enforcement agencies, including the CIA and MI6. But, as Albright chronicles, the prosecutions of traffickers that were much anticipated have not come to pass, and Khan himself was released from house arrest in February 2009. Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea all use statesponsored smuggling networks that easily bypass export regulations and avoid detection. Albright illuminates how these networks have learned many ways to trick suppliers across the globe, including many in the United States, into selling them vital parts, and why, despite the fact that, since 2007, several dozen companies have been indicted—with some pleading guilty—for suspicion of participating in illicit trade, very few prosecutions have been achieved. Peddling Peril charts the dealings of several of these companies. Albright also reports on the hopeful story of the German company Leybold’s decision to become an industry watchdog, and shows how this story reveals just how effective corporate monitoring and government cooperation would be if more serious efforts were made. Concluding with a detailed plan for clamping down tightly on the illicit trade, Albright shows the way forward in the vital mission of freeing the world of this terrifying menace.

Winning Armageddon provides definition to an all-too-long misunderstood figure of the Cold War, General Curtis E. LeMay, and tells the story of his advocacy for preemptive nuclear strikes while leading the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command. In telling this story, Trevor Albertson builds for the reader a world that, while not in the distant past, has been forgotten by many; the lessons of that past, however, are as applicable today as they were 65 years ago. This work brings to life the challenges, fears, and responses of a Cold War United States that grappled with a problem that did not have a clear solution: nuclear war. LeMay argued for striking first in a potential nuclear conflict--but only if and when it was clear that the enemy was preparing to launch their own surprise attack. This approach, commonly referred to as preemption, was designed to catch an attacker off-guard and prevent the destruction of one's own nation. LeMay hoped that rather than plunging the world into a fruitless nuclear exchange he could diffuse the conflict at its outset.

Madman, tyrant, animal—history has given Adolf Hitler many names. In Mein Kampf (My Struggle), often called the Nazi bible, Hitler describes his life, frustrations, ideals, and dreams. Born to an impoverished couple in a small town in Austria, the young Adolf grew up with the fervent desire to become a painter. The death of his parents and outright rejection from art schools in Vienna forced him into underpaid work as a laborer. During the First World War, Hitler served in the infantry and was decorated for bravery. After the war, he became actively involved with socialist political groups and quickly rose to power, establishing himself as Chairman of the National Socialist German Worker's party. In 1924, Hitler led a coalition of nationalist groups in a bid to overthrow the Bavarian government in Munich. The infamous Munich "Beer-hall putsch" was unsuccessful, and Hitler was arrested. During the nine months he was in prison, an embittered and frustrated Hitler dictated a personal manifesto to his loyal follower Rudolph Hess. He vented his sentiments against communism and the Jewish people in this document, which was to become Mein Kampf, the controversial book that is seen as the blue-print for Hitler's political and military campaign. In Mein Kampf, Hitler describes his strategy for rebuilding Germany and conquering Europe. It is a glimpse into the mind of a man who destabilized world peace and pursued the genocide now known as the Holocaust.

Developing countries lose billions each year through bribery, misappropriation of funds, and other corrupt practices. Much of the proceeds of this corruption find 'safe haven' in the world's financial centers. These criminal flows are a drain on social services and economic development programs, contributing to the impoverishment of the world's poorest countries. Many developing countries have already sought to recover stolen assets. A number of successful high-profile cases with creative international cooperation has demonstrated that asset recovery is possible. However, it is highly complex, involving coordination and collaboration with domestic agencies and ministries in multiple jurisdictions, as well as the capacity to trace and secure assets and pursue various legal options—whether criminal confiscation, non-conviction based confiscation, civil actions, or other alternatives. This process can be overwhelming for even the most experienced practitioners. It is exceptionally difficult for those working in the context of failed states, widespread corruption, or limited resources. With this in mind, the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative has developed and updated this Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners to assist those grappling with the strategic, organizational, investigative, and legal challenges of recovering stolen assets. A practitioner-led project, the Handbook provides common approaches to recovering stolen assets located in foreign jurisdictions, identifies the challenges that practitioners are likely to encounter, and introduces good practices. It includes examples of tools that can be used by practitioners, such as sample intelligence reports, applications for court orders, and mutual legal assistance requests. StAR—the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative—is a partnership between the World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that supports international efforts to end safe havens for corrupt funds. StAR works with developing countries and financial centers to prevent the laundering of the proceeds of corruption and to facilitate more systematic and timely return of stolen assets.

The Strategic Trade Review is a peer reviewed journal dedicated to strategic trade, export controls, and sanctions. The sixth Spring/Summer 2018 issue features articles on emerging technologies and export controls, cryptosanctions, export control practices in advanced countries, proliferation finance, defense exports, and capacity-building. It also includes a "Practitioners Perspectives" section. The Strategic Trade Review publishes articles from a global authorship. The Review is an essential resource for researchers, practitioners, students, policy-makers, and other stakeholders involved in trade and security.

"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is almost certainly fiction, but its impact was not. Originating in Russia, it landed in the English-speaking world where it caused great consternation. Much is made of German anti-semitism, but there was fertile soil for "The Protocols" across Europe and even in America, thanks to Henry Ford and others.