Biden administration releases 5 pillar strategy to combat corruption

The Biden administration released a 5 pillar strategy to combat corruption in the U.S. and abroad.

In a statement on June 3, 2021, Biden stated that corruption is a core national security interest of the United States and threatens national security, economic equity, global antipoverty and development efforts, and democracy itself. By preventing and countering corruption and showing the advantages of transparent and accountable governance, we can secure a critical advantage for the United States and other democracies. The strategy includes five pillars: modernizing, coordinating and resourcing U.S. government efforts to fight corruption, curbing illicit finance, holding corrupt actors accountable, preserving and strengthening multilateral anti-corruption architecture, and strengthening diplomatic engagement and leveraging foreign assistance resources to fight corruption.

The strategy came after federal departments and agencies conducted a review to take stock of existing U.S. government anti-corruption efforts and identify and seek to correct gaps in the fight against corruption. The document states that the strategy builds on the findings of the review and sets out a comprehensive approach for how the United States will work domestically and internationally, with government and non-governmental partners, to prevent, limit, and respond to corruption and related crimes.

The strategy lays out a number of different types of corruption:

Grand corruption: when political elites steal large amounts of public funds or otherwise abuse power for personal or political advantage.

Administrative corruption: the abuse of power for private gain - usually by low- to mid-level government officials - in interactions with citizens and the private sector, including to skirt official regulations and extort citizens in exchange for basic services.

Kleptocracy is a government controlled by officials who use political power to take advantage of the wealth of its nation. State capture is when private entities improperly influence a country's decision-making process for their own benefit.

Strategic corruption is when a government uses corrupt practices as a tenet of its foreign policy.

From the small-town hospital administrator who demands bribes in exchange for life-saving services to the globe-trotting kleptocrat who offshores an embezzled fortune, corruption harms both individuals and societies, the strategy document explains.