On Tuesday, May 15, 2018 the Perry Center (WJPC), in collaboration with The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), hosted a Hemispheric Forum on “National and International Efforts to Address the Opioid Crisis and Transnational Organized Crime.” This full-day forum addressed the opioid crisis and the role of transnational organized crime on a domestic and international scale. WJPC Director, LTG (ret.) Frederick S. Rudesheim, USA, National Defense University President VADM Frederick F. Roegge, USN, and Mr. James W. Carroll, Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) welcomed guests and participants to the forum prior to kicking off the event.
Member of Congress including Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Chair of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, and Congresswoman Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH, 2nd District), Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force touched upon the Congressional Perspectives on the Opioids Crisis and Transnational Organized Crime during the first panel. LTG Reynold N. Hoover, USA, Deputy Commander of US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), addressed the audience on USNORTHCOM’s efforts to combat illicit networks and Transnational Organized Crime.
Furthermore, subject matter experts and from the US and Mexico analyzed the framework and the entire cycle of opioid crisis including the production, distribution, interdiction, and treatment of addiction during four separate panels:
Subsequent panelists for the event included Mr. Gerardo Rodriguez Sanchez Lara, Professor, Universidad de las Américas en Puebla; Mr. John Lombardi, Office of the Director of National Intelligence; Ms. Celina B. Realuyo, Professor of Practice, William J. Perry Center; LTC Albert Jim Marckwardt, USA, Colombia Country Officer, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs; Mr. Carlos Rodriguez Ulloa, Professor, Colectivo de Analisis de la Seguridad con Democracia (CASEDE); Mr. Paul E. Kierim, Deputy Chief of Operations, Office of Global Enforcement Drug Enforcement Administration US Department of Justice; Mr. Joseph McMenamin, Principal Director for Counter Narcotics and Global Threats, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; LTC Michael Burgoyne, USA, Policy Analyst, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; Mr. Sergio de la Peña, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs; Dr. Athanasios Hristoulas, Professor, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México; Dr. Raúl Benítez Manaut, Professor, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; and Mr. Iñigo Guevara, Director, Defense and Security at Jane’s Aerospace.
Each panel concluded with a question-and-answer session that included both in-person queries from audience members and comments from livestream viewers.
