WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The head of the U.S. Overseas Security Advisory Council says terrorist threats and the rise of violent piracy were among the top security concerns in 2008.
Todd Brown, OSAC executive director and U.S. State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security special agent, released a report Wednesday saying terrorism remained a top security threat to businesses, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions from the United States operating overseas in 2008, the State Department reported.
Brown also cited foreign government corruption, the increased illicit drugs trade and the escalating number of incidents involving piracy, particularly off the coast of Somalia, as other top threats.
"This past year we saw terrorist attacks against United States and other Western interests in northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and in Turkey," Brown said in a statement.
"And the targets of these attacks have been not only U.S. government facilities and personnel, but in some cases U.S.-based businesses and non-governmental organizations."
The Overseas Security Advisory Council, an agency in the State Department, released its annual year-end analysis of threats to U.S. interests around the world with information collected from the U.S. private sector, unclassified reports and OSAC members.
