The Center for Law and Human Behavior hosted its 10th symposium in the Homeland Security Symposium Series on October 25, 2017. “Disrupting and Dismantling Transnational Criminal Networks” was the topic presented by Dr. Brandon Behlendorf, an assistant professor in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity at the University of Albany.

The symposium topic attracted people from various federal, state, and local agencies from the homeland security enterprise. The symposium was broken up into two sections. In the first section, What Science Knows & Mostly Knows, Dr. Behlendorf covered topics such as clarifying who are illicit groups, networks, and markets, targeting leadership to disrupt networks, and organizational adaptation (and its limits). The second section, What Science is Learning & How We Move Forward, covered how organizations fail, network vs. supply-chain resilience, and new practitioner/researcher initiative. Both topics presented the attendees with new and helpful information they can apply to future investigations. Over 90% of the attendees remarked that the quality of the symposium was excellent.  

In the survey questionnaire, over 98% of respondents stated that they would attend a second, more in-depth, symposium on the presented topic. One federal agent stated the symposium was a “Great insight into other angles for combating Transnational Criminal Organizations.”

If you’re interested in more information about this symposium or previous symposiums, please visit our website at http://clhb.utep.edu/ or follow us on Twitter @1CLHB.