Ornamentally decorated ivory tusks on a conveyor belt as the illegal products are publicly destroyed.

Wildlife crime is a national security issue—and Homeland Security is on the case

A new unit of the federal agency will investigate the illegal trade in animals and work to thwart international criminal networks.

United States Fish and Wildlife Service officers destroy confiscated ivory in Times Square in 2015. The agency has recently offered to detail one of its agents to the Department of Homeland Security’s new wildlife-trafficking unit.
Photograph by Andrew Burton, Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is building a brand-new wildlife trafficking investigations unit—a team financed with a recent $7.5 million appropriation that will support 14 investigators and analysts who will work on timber, fish, plant, and animal crimes.

Some of the focus of the new unit will be undercover operations, says Elliott Harbin, a senior adviser for the new unit, but the team will also unravel other aspects of criminal networks, including money laundering and financial crimes. Often, they’ll partner with other agencies and law enforcement in the U.S. and around the world.

Homeland Security, an anti-terrorism agency that was created in the aftermath of 9/11, said in a recent report that fighting wildlife crime is an

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