This Disrupting Operations of Illicit Supply Networks (D-ISN) project promotes scientific understanding of illicit supply networks by providing insight into the ways Central American cocaine trafficking networks adapt to US-led counterdrug interdiction operations attempting to disrupt them. By offering an interdisciplinary understanding of the environment in which interdiction forces operate in the Central American transit zone between South American sources and U.S. markets, this research ascertains the structure and function of cocaine supply networks, as well as how they transform in response to interdiction efforts. This project engages with U.S. government agencies and military organizations charged with disrupting these illicit supply networks, and it contributes to national and hemispheric security.
This project investigates the adaptive behaviors of cocaine trafficking networks in response to varied interdiction strategies within the transit zone of Central America and associated maritime areas. The research leverages data science analytical techniques and GIS systems in combination with a modeling approach that identifies traffickers’ behavioral tendencies for relocating existing trafficking routes, creating new routes, and/or shifting cocaine conveyance methods in response to interdiction operations. In doing so, this project establishes convergence among operations engineering, geographic, data science, and criminological perspectives, leading to comparative analyses of the dynamic and adaptive interactions between illicit supply networks and law enforcement interventions.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
