Joint Statement of the U.S. Department of Justice and the United Kingdom Home Office on a Multilateral Meeting to Address State-Sponsored High-Harm Physical Threats and Other Forms of Transnational Repression

On Oct. 10, the U.S. Department of Justice and the United Kingdom Home Office convened a multilateral meeting at the U.S. Embassy in London to address the urgent challenge of state-sponsored high-harm physical threats and other forms of transnational repression. The meeting was co-chaired by Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General for National Security from the U.S. Department of Justice, and Chloe Squires, Director General for Homeland Security from the U.K. Home Office.

The meeting brought together senior government officials from partner nations that are confronting increasing levels of transnational violence perpetrated by state actors, particularly authoritarian regimes, and their proxies. This meeting included representatives from intelligence, law enforcement, prosecutorial, and policy organizations to share disruption strategies for countering the alarming rise in transnational assassination plots, kidnappings, and other acts of violence and repression.

The engagement was designed to achieve a common understanding of the threat landscape, share operational and strategic approaches to counter the threat, and identify opportunities for ongoing collaboration and partnership. At the conclusion, participants agreed to establish a regular working group to maintain shared visibility into the threat in member countries and to review and develop strategies to increase the capacity of the partner nations to deter and disrupt state-sponsored violence and repression.