U.S President Joe Biden announced a sweeping new push to make anti-corruption efforts a core national security priority on Thursday, a move that could have significant knock-on effects for global efforts to clamp down kleptocracy.
A new national security memorandum directs government agencies to review ways to modernize and better resource efforts to hold corrupt actors accountable, tackle illicit finance, and work with international partners to counter strategic corruption by authoritarian regimes. The move comes amid growing recognition in Washington of corruption’s national security risk and is the administration’s first major action to make good on Biden’s campaign promise to put the world’s kleptocrats on notice.
