It was a beautiful Monday morning when Team Internal Security™ set off in search of glory, knowledge, and quotable soundbites on human trafficking and smuggling, cybersecurity, and the role of social media in fueling political unrest.
After a fun-filled drive to Rabat, the InternalSecurityMobile pulled aside at the compound housing (among other things) the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The topics were heavy but the mood was light as the Team spoke for nearly two hours with the generous UNODC staff over Moroccan tea and coffee. The conversation covered the links between terrorist financing, international organized crime, and human smuggling. UN staff discussed the raft of UN and EU programs aimed at eradicating trafficking in persons, and concerns about Morocco’s implementation of its 2016 anti-trafficking laws.
Then conversation shifted to cybersecurity, as the UN personnel cited a hack of the Moroccan Ministry of Justice in the 2009-2010 time frame as a seminal moment in the development of Morocco’s approach to cybersecurity. On the issue of social media, the staff commented on how governments have begun to use fake social-media profiles to monitor and infiltrate dissident groups online.
The productive meeting with UNODC left the Team rather hungry. As the saying goes, “When in Rabat, Do What the Rabatians Do.” We tried to apply this exhortation to lunch. “Tagine,” you ask? Not quite. Cous-cous? Sure, maybe, if we had lost our “I’m a Tourist!” T-shirts and couldn’t stand the idea of people not knowing. We did what the locals do: headed over to the Mega Mall food court, which offers all the latest Moroccan delicacies. Chicken and beef dumplings? Yes. Sushi? They’ve got that. And who could forget that old Berber standby, Domino’s Pizza? All that plus free WiFi, so long as we were willing to watch a ten-second video about... well, actually, we have no idea. It might have been an ad for a breakfast cereal. Or some kind of smart phone. Maybe dental floss? In any case, we were mostly focused on the sushi, and where one might find a good gastroenterologist in the greater Rabat area.
It’s been quite a productive day so far. Nobody knows where dinner might be, but we wouldn’t rule out Taco Bell or The Outback.