From the Director
2023 was a year of expansion and change for CINA. I was honored to join as director effective December 11, 2023, and to inherit the strong legacy of my predecessors, Jim Jones and Anthony Stefanidis, as well as the terrific CINA team. I am grateful for Jim and Anthony’s continued contributions as active members of CINA’s Science Committee
Our Mission
The CINA Center serves as a strategic innovation partner for Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE) stakeholders, enhancing their efforts to counter transnational organized crime.
CINA helps shape the future HSE workforce to excel in a complex operational landscape as it strives to protect the United States.
By pursuing scientific advancements and practice breakthroughs at the same time, CINA helps the HSE to understand, anticipate, and respond better to challenges posed by evolving illicit organizations.
Research Portfolio
The CINA Center pursues a comprehensive set of programs and activities that are designed to equip practitioners, end users, decision-makers, and U.S. policymakers in the Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE) with state-of-the-art knowledge, expertise, methods, tools, and technologies to help counter transnational organized crime.
Advances in information and communication technologies have benefited education, healthcare, and other crucial sectors; however, transnational criminal organizations have taken advantage of these advances to evolve, become more agile, and expand their scope. Today, transnational criminal organizations can easily emerge, disappear, and reorganize in response to operational opportunities and authority gaps.
Learn how CINA’s research addresses these complex problems.
Workforce Development and Outreach
The CINA Center’s workforce and professional development activities support its mission to help the Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE) counter transnational organized crime. These activities serve to:
- Expand recruiting: Inspire students and faculty at U.S. Minority Serving Institutions to consider careers in the HSE.
- Educate the future workforce: Develop transdisciplinary credentialing opportunities at the undergraduate and graduate levels that integrate existing programs in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and analytics, integrating findings from CINA’s research and its connections with HSE practitioners.
- Create professional development opportunities: Strengthen the scientific, engineering, business, and analytical capabilities of the current HSE workforce as they face new challenges in countering transnational organized crime.