How Africa’s Minerals Underground Threatens U.S. Security Interests

By Sally Yozell

Sally Yozell is a Senior Associate and Director of the Environmental Security program at the Stimson Center. Yozell's research examines the links between environmental crime and global security issues — with a focus on combatting Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and wildlife trafficking; identifying innovative technologies to fight IUU fishing in Marine Protected Areas; and tracking transnational organized crime as well as natural resources theft. Prior to joining Stimson, Yozell was a Senior Advisor to Secretary of State, John Kerry and the Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment — where she provided advice and technical expertise to advance U.S. policies in the international arena related to ocean, coast, climate, and wildlife protection. Previously, Yozell served as Director of Policy at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Yozell also worked as a Regional Director for Marine Conservation at The Nature Conservancy; was a Vice President in the applied marine science group at Battelle Memorial Institute; and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans at NOAA. She worked for almost a decade in the Senate as an environment and energy advisor to Senator John Kerry. Yozell holds a Master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Vermont.

Last February, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order calling on the Department of Treasury to review the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act enacted in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. One Dodd-Frank provision the Trump Administration would like to suspend  is Section 1502, which requires U.S. companies that obtain tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold  from the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjacent countries to document for the Securities and Exchange Commission whether their activities contribute to financing conflict.

The administration, as well as some in Congress, argues that the regulation is burdensome to businesses and has even exacerbated, rather than ameliorated, violent conflict. They contend that Congolese miners lost income due to the regulations and turn to the very militias targeted by the regulation for an alternative livelihood.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Subscriber+


Related Articles

Search

Close