2. ACTIVITIES OF THE TRANSNATIONAL THREATS DEPARTMENT Background Following up on the Athens Ministerial Council Decision No. 2/09 and the 2010 Report by the OSCE Secretary General on the Implementation of MC.DEC/2/09 on Further OSCE Efforts to Address Transnational Threats and Challenges to Security and Stability, the 2011 Vilnius Ministerial Council adopted Decision No. 9/11 on Strengthening Co-ordination and Coherence in the OSCE’s Efforts to Address Transnational Threats. The decision welcomed “the proposals by the Secretary General included in the 2012 Unified Budget Proposal for the creation of a department to address transnational threats, consistent with the OSCE’s mandates and within available resources, with a view to ensuring better co-ordination, strengthened coherence and more efficient use of the OSCE’s resources in addressing transnational threats”5. The Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) became operational on 1 January 2012 to optimize the support provided to the Secretary General, the Chairmanship-in-Office and the participating States on transnational threat (TNT) matters including anti-terrorism, border management and security, and cyber security, as well as police-related activities. The role of the TNTD is to support the Secretary General as a focal point for Organization-wide programmatic activities that relate to countering transnational threats, and to ensure co-ordination and coherence of actions across all three OSCE dimensions, among all OSCE executive structures, while respecting their mandates. The TNTD is led by a Co-ordinator and comprised of the following units: the Co-ordination Cell (CC), the Action against Terrorism Unit (ATU), the Border Security and Management Unit (BSMU) and the Strategic Police Matters Unit (SPMU). Transnational Threats Department Director Co-ordination Cell Action against Terrorism Unit 5 20 Border Security and Management Unit Strategic Police Matters Unit OSCE, Ministerial Council Decision No. 9/11, Strengthening Co-ordination and Coherence in the OSCE’s Efforts to Address Transnational Threats, Eighteenth Meeting of the Ministerial Council, Vilnius, 7 December 2011, p. 2.