FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CRM
FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1999
INTERPOL: (202)616-9000
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
TDD (202) 514-1888
RONALD K. NOBLE TO BE NEXT INTERPOL SECRETARY GENERAL
Washington, D.C.-- Ronald K. Noble, former U.S. Treasury Under Secretary and U.S. Justice Department official, was selected today to succeed Raymond E. Kendall of the U.K. as Secretary General of the International Criminal Police Organization, better known as INTERPOL.
INTERPOL's 13-member Executive Committee, meeting at its headquarters in Lyons, France, chose Noble from a multinational field of eight candidates.
Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service and Vice President of the INTERPOL Executive Committee said, " Noble is clearly well qualified for the job and his election as Secretary General will be to the benefit of the entire world police community."
Upon ratification by INTERPOL's General Assembly, Noble, 42, of New York City, will become the first American to head the 177-member international police organization. He was endorsed by Attorney General Janet Reno, Secretary of the Treasury Robert E. Rubin, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, and the heads of other U.S. law enforcement agencies.
As Secretary General, Noble has pledged to work for increased use of emerging technologies to address exigent law enforcement problems stemming from the easing of national border controls and the globalization of crime. He also will seek to improve the ability of the world's developing nations to participate more fully in INTERPOL.
While Treasury Under Secretary for Enforcement in 1994 - 1996, Noble supervised the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Customs Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He established himself as an expert on international money laundering while serving as president of the G-7's 26-nation Financial Action Task Force and on the INTERPOL Executive Committee. Currently a professor of criminal law at New York University Law School, Noble also serves as an INTERPOL Executive Committee Advisor on finance.
Noble served in 1988 - 1989 as Chief of Staff of the Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice. After graduation from Stanford University Law School he became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, prosecuting numerous major cases, including a cocaine trafficking case with more than 100 co-defendants. He won convictions in every case he tried.
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