International cooperation to defend the food supply chain: nations are talking; next step - action.

AuthorHoffman, John T.

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION II. THE THREAT: IS IT REAL? III. IS TERRORISM TARGETING FOOD A CRIME? IV. INTERNATIONAL ACTION HAS BEEN SLOW TO DEVELOP V. REGIONAL EFFORTS TO PROTECT FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ARE GROWING VI. BILATERAL INITIATIVES HAVE GAINED SOME MOMENTUM VII. EFFORTS BY THE UNITED STATES PROVIDE SUBSTANTIVE PROGRESS VIII. HOW DO WE MOVE FROM RHETORIC TO INTERNATIONAL ACTION? IX. GLOBAL FOOD CHAIN DEFENSE PROSPECTS ARE POOR UNLESS THERE IS ACTION ON THE PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY I. INTRODUCTION

Global Food System Defense is an area where, so far, we have not yet obtained real traction in this post-September 11, 200] world of international terrorism. Cooperative international efforts to defend and protect the global food supply system may well be crucial to the security of every developed nation in the coming years. Affordable energy--currently fossil fuels--and food are at the heart of the security and prosperity of every nation. Yet the food protection efforts that have been historically supported by the international community have focused on traditional "food security," defined as access to sufficient calories and nutrition to sustain the population--usually meant as poor, underfed populations. (1) For the purposes of this Article, this is not the same as food defense. As Dr. Marc Ostfield, Senior Advisor for Bioterrorism, Biodefense, and Health Security, U.S. Department of State, pointed out in his recent remarks to the European Institute, "[m]any have used these terms interchangeably and, I would argue, erroneously, creating confusion during both national and international policy discussions." (2) Of course, in countries and regions of the world where food security is a significant concern itself, food defense is a relatively low priority compared to the basics of a sustainable supply of safe and wholesome foods. Unfortunately, however, the global nature of our food system means that primary production or ingredient sourcing from such regions flows directly into countries where food defense has ascended above the base level of the Maslow hierarchy of needs, from physiological to safety needs. Of the few defensive steps designed to protect food supply chains that are in place, these are usually centered on protecting food stocks from theft or misappropriation by both local government and insurgent groups. (3) The concept of a large-scale effort to defend the global food supply chain from adulteration or destruction that might target an entire population is relatively new.

II THE THREAT: IS IT REAL?

Malnutrition and food shortages in many areas of the world already contribute to social and civil unrest. Efforts to fight regional malnutrition can be undermined if the food itself is suspect. With the increase in international terrorism and the clear evidence that terrorist groups, such as radical extremists and those associated with Al Qaeda, have considered targeting food, it is time for more aggressive action to defend the world's fragile food supply system against potential acts by fanatical groups. (4) History reflects numerous instances where food has been targeted by both nation states, as components of military strategy, and by insurgent or terrorist groups. (5) The United States has suffered from several domestic terrorist acts against food. For example, in an Al Qaeda training manual found in Manchester, UK, there is a section on how to employ contaminated food as a weapon. (6) In September 1984, the Rajneeshee cult contaminated salad bars in restaurants in Wasco County, Oregon, with Salmonella typhimurium in an effort to influence a local election. (7) In 2002, U.S. Armed Forces discovered documents (8) in an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan that indicated that this group had considered the use of biological and chemical weapons to target agriculture and food supplies. The threat is, indeed, real, and many consider the probability of another terrorist strike against food to be high, as has been reported in a recent paper by Stinson and Kinsey entited, How Should America's Anti-Terrorism Budget Be Allocated? Findings from a National Survey of Attitudes of U.S. Residents about Terrorism. (9) It is also worth noting that the Report of the National Intelligence Council's 2020 Project stated that "[o]ur greatest concern is that these groups might acquire biological agents or less likely, a nuclear device, either of which could cause mass casualties" (10) The Government Accounting Office January 2007 publication, "High Risk Series: An Update," further highlights the concerns with food, added as a high risk area for the first time. (11)

  1. IS TERRORISM TARGETING FOOD A CRIME?

    Except for specific disaster events where emergency food supplies were rapidly transported from one area of the world to another to stave off starvation in impacted populations (Iran, Asia, Philippines, Central Africa, Berlin Airlift, etc.), most efforts in the past have been via government-sponsored international aid organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and United Nations (UN) organizations such as the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO). (12) These organizations have not historically engaged in "anti-terrorism" defensive measures because these were not politically acceptable areas of engagement for them. (13) Until the late 1980s, most nations viewed terrorism as "political" activity, not a crime, and would not become involved in any manner, defensively or protectively. (14) Indeed, until relatively recently, INTERPOL did not even engage in investigations of terrorism because Article 3 of its constitution, adopted in 1951, precluded the "[o]rganization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character." (15) Even today, not all nations have criminal laws that address such terrorist acts. The issue of making such terrorist acts an international crime is even more difficult. As Ben Saul points out, "[m]uch of the international legal debate on terrorism has focused on ideological disputes or the technical mechanics of definition, rather than the underlying policy question of why--or whether--terrorism should be internationally criminalized." (16) This debate continues and complicates efforts to address international efforts to defend the global food supply.

  2. INTERNATIONAL ACTION HAS BEEN SLOW TO DEVELOP

    The impact of ideological disputes continued to thwart real progress in this arena until the post-9/11 period. Since that time, steps have been taken, both unilaterally and cooperatively, by individual nations, the United Nations, and some NGOs. (17) However, what has been done is at a rather low, relatively ineffectual level, or has only included a subset of the required stakeholders. Most cooperative international efforts have been high on rhetoric but low on any real action.

    In the G8 efforts, for example, a rather robust plan for international cooperation was proposed under the U.S. Presidency in 2004. (18) These proposed steps included the sharing of best practices from within the private sector groups (within the U.S., this represents the owners of approximately 85 percent of the food production and distribution systems), sharing of new regulatory schemes designed to further the protection of the food supply chains, the sharing of emergency response planning data and lessons learned from past events, senior level discussions of future cooperative efforts, and the conduct of international exercises that would focus on large-scale terrorist events targeting global or regional food supply chains. (19) The G8 presidency has since rested with the United Kingdom (U.K.) and the Russians, and an increase in Global Food Defense from these efforts has not yet become measurable. (20)

    There has been little real effort to organize the world's more capable nations towards defending the international food supply. As a consequence, little has been done to enable the less capable states to act, either directly or indirectly. Interestingly, there have been several efforts to plan and conduct international food defense exercises to help identify protective gaps, to help train representatives of participating nations, and to improve international cooperation. (21) As of yet, these efforts have yielded little success, and there has been no major international exercise specifically designed around a large-scale terrorist act targeting the global or even a regional food supply chain. In 2004, at the annual meeting of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), (22) the issues of protecting the international food supply chain were discussed, and while no concrete action was taken, there was agreement to continue the discussion of potential international action on this matter at future meetings. Subsequent meetings have not produced any substantive progress on broad international cooperation. The 2005 session merely concurred with the results of the 2004 annual meeting, and no concrete action to further defend international food systems was taken or proposed. (23)

    Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has addressed the issues of food system defense in the Asia-Pacific Region at conferences and workshops. (24) The U.S. has proposed specific actions for APEC to adopt but no steps have yet been taken beyond endorsing the need for improved security of the food supply system on the part of member states. (25) APEC conducted a food defense workshop in Thailand in November 2006, where senior officials of member nations discussed actions each nation had undertaken to protect their food supply chains, and looked at methodologies for assessing vulnerabilities in the food supply system. (26) The stated purpose of the workshop was to "begin a regional dialogue on protecting the food supply from deliberate contamination." (27) While this information-sharing is helpful, no specific international cooperative action was adopted. (28) On the positive side...

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