ILEA-ASIA

The DOS has received funding from Congress to pursue the development of an ILEA for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). An organizational team was comprised of members from INL, DOS, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, United States Secret Service (USSS), and the United States Customs Service (USCS). Members of this team have traveled to Bangkok on several occasions. Negotiations with the Thailand Government regarding the establishment of the ILEA-ASIA have been favorable. The first six-week core program for ILEA-Asia began June 1999, with DEA as the lead agency.
Unlike ILEA, Bangkok their core course will be six weeks comprised of 5 officials from each of the ten countries of the ASEAN. The first core course graduation is set for 7/16/99.
DOS has appointed Robert Wasserman, an independent contractor, to facilitate the development of this academy and to negotiate issues between agencies. To date, ILEA-Asia has hosted speciality courses in the investigation of Clandestine Laboratories, White Collar Crime, Intellectual Property Rights, and Complex Financial Crimes.

DOS has indicated that the United States foreign policy interest in this sector of the world relates to drugs, alien smuggling and cyber crimes. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia, led a law enforcement training needs assessment which identified the following topics as priorities of the ASEAN: Investigative Techniques, Management of Drug Investigations, Counterfeit Investigations, Public Corruption, Cyber Crimes, Raid Planning and Execution, Drug Trafficking, Community Policing, Financial Crimes Investigations, Money Laundering, Organized Crime, Undercover Operations, Democratic Policing, White Collar Crimes, Crime Scene Management, Alien Smuggling, Customs Interdiction, and Clandestine Laboratories.

The following countries participated in this needs assessment: Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand. China and Vietnam were invited but declined the invitation.