Economic security

The CIA's Shadow War Against North Korean Smuggling

Around the globe, U.S. intelligence agencies are playing an elaborte cat-and-mouse game against a network of smugglers and agents of the North Korean regime. The fight happens in the shadows but the stakes couldn’t be higher. Just last week, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on six North Korean ships, 16 individuals, and nine companies that it said had facilitated Pyongyang’s weapons programs.

Last week CIA Director Mike Pompeo cited the “remarkable creativity” by U.S. agents that led to stopping some shipments to North Korea. “We have officers all round the world working diligently to make sure we do everything we can to support the U.S. pressure campaign to tighten the sanctions,” he told a small crowd in Washington D.C.

Pompeo's comment brings to mind cloak-and-dagger images: Spies and double agents working crooked businessmen, satellite analysts pouring over images of North Korea, and Navy SEALS monitoring ships. Based on what we know, cracking the black market that supports Kim Jong-un's regime is just as dramatic, but also a lot more nuanced, than a spy thriller.