Steven R. Galster is an environmental and human rights investigator and counter-trafficking program designer. Since 1987, he has planned and participated in investigations and remedial programs to stop wildlife trafficking, human trafficking, and associated corruption, to build good governance in Asia, Africa, Russia, and the USA. He founded and co-founded several civil society organizations, including: Global Survival Network, Phoenix, WildAid, and Freeland. He currently serves as Director of Freeland, a counter-trafficking group. He has been featured on CNN, BBC, National Geographic, Discovery, and in TIME Magazine and the New York Times.

Education

Galster graduated from Green Lake High School in Wisconsin in 1980. He went onto Luther College in Iowa to study biology, and transferred to Grinnell College in 1982 where he graduated in 1984 with a B.A. in Liberal Arts, focusing on Political Science and International Relations. (He was awarded the Grinnell Alumni Award 25 years later). [1] In 1984/85 he took to travel through Europe, ending up working as an English teacher in Greece. Then he returned to the United States to take up a Masters Degree at George Washington University, where he graduated in 1988 with an M.A. in Security Policy Studies. He focused on US-Soviet Cold War relations, with an emphasis on superpower competition along the 3rd World periphery.

Galster in Afghanistan, 1988

Career Chronology:

– 1986-1990: Led National Security Archive’s Afghanistan Project. Through the declassification of security documents and his first-hand accounts inside war torn Afghanistan and Pakistan border areas, Galster observed the complex dynamics of a super power proxy war.[2] He interviewed diplomats and intelligence service officers from multiple countries, and then accompanied both Soviet soldiers and Mujahideen rebels into war zones, documenting the trafficking of arms and narcotics among combatants.  He predicted protracted civil war after the Soviet withdrawal, as well as strengthened fundamentalists due to what he described as a skewed covert assistance program by by the CIA through Pakistan’s ISI, which favored Islamic hardliners. [3] In his research, Galster was mentored by experts Selig Harrison, Dr. Eric Hooglund, and investigative journalists Scott Armstrong and Ahmed Rashid. With his colleagues at National Security Archive, he produced an encyclopedic document set on US Policy toward Afghanistan from 1973-1990, which was published by National Security Archive and Chadwyck Healy in 1991. [4] He also published articles on the war in Afghanistan in The Nation,[5], Afghanistan Forum, [6], Third World Quarterly [7], and a small book on arms dealers supplying civil wars (co-written with Lawrence Lifschultz and Rabia Alia).[8]

Undercover Footage by Galster Reveals China’s Rhino Horn Kingpin in his Secret Warehouse

– 1991-1993: Frustrated that his research findings failed to contribute to any positive impact on the war in Afghanistan, Galster joined the UK-based NGO Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) to learn how to apply research and intelligence findings to effect positive change. To learn how to power an effective campaign, Galster joined EIA’s Africa team, led by Kathi Austin, to examine elephant and rhino poaching in southern Africa. Eventually Galster led investigations for EIA into rhino horn trafficking between Africa and Asia. Together with Rebecca Chen, they uncovered the world’s biggest stash of illegal rhino horn in southern China in 1993, which was controlled by an organized criminal gang that had tried to monopolize the global rhino horn trade. The Kingpin detailed his strategy while Galster and Chen recorded him and his operations.  Galster’s undercover film of a large stock of horn acquired from criminals, including North Korean diplomats, was aired on international television, and used by Chinese police to locate the contraband and arrest the gang. The Chinese Government then destroyed the stockpile on public TV and reaffirmed their support for a ban on rhino horn trade.[9]

– 1993: Galster led an investigation for EIA into illegal whale meat trafficking between the South Pacific and Japan. Supported by Filipino activists and fishermen, his findings and covert film were featured on BBC’s  “Whale Wars”, which was released as the International Whaling Commission met in Japan, influencing some governments to uphold the ban on commercial whaling to and to further question the true nature of Japan’s so-called “scientific whaling”.[10]

– 1993-1994: Hired by the UK-based Tiger Trust, Galster moved to Russia to help design and oversee the development of “Operation Amba”, a counter-poaching program that aimed to reduce poaching of Siberian tigers in the Far East. Amba went on to reduce poaching of the tiger population[11]

With Operation Amba Commander Vladimir Schetinin

– 1994: Galster was lead author of report and video called “Crimes Against Nature: Organized Crime and the Wildlife Trade”, published by Endangered Species Project (ESP), which was presented at the 9th UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) that was held in Florida. The report and video were commissioned, funded, and used by ESP Director, Sam LaBudde to campaign for global wildlife enforcement reform.[12]

– 1995: Together with Michael C. Mitchell, Galster launched Global Survival Network (GSN), a Washington,DC-based NGO focusing on wildlife and human trafficking.[13]

– 1996-1998: Galster ran a long-term investigation into sex trafficking in the former Soviet Union, which resulted in the campaign tools, “Bought and Sold” (documentary) & report “Crime and Servitude”, which were produced with GSN colleague Gillian Caldwell and used to support awareness, policy and legal reform in Eastern Europe and the United States.[14]

– 1999: Galster led an investigation into human trafficking in Saipan, which became the focus of an ABC 20/20 expose’ that was used in US Congressional hearings that resulted in labor reform in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.[15] [16]

– 2000: With new co-directors, Galster re-branded Global Survival Network as “WildAid”, joining Suwanna Gauntlett, Peter Knights and Steve Trent to run the organization, which now focused on wildlife crime.[17]

With Thai Rangers Tracking Cambodian Loggers

– 2001-2003: Galster ran WildAid’s Bangkok office where he led a campaign to stop people from eating shark fin soup, with support from JWT Advertising Firm.[18] According to shark fin dealers, the campaign resulted in a 70% reduction in shark fin consumption in Thailand, which prompted outrage by the merchants.  He and WildAid were sued by Bangkok-based shark fin dealers for $3 million, but after 3 years he and his office won the suit. [19] During this period under WildAid, together with Tim Redford and Mark Bowman, Galster helped develop a ranger anti-poaching training and support program in Khao Yai National Park, which evolved into a regional nature protection training center.  WildAid partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Tony Lynam to initiate the training program.  [20]

Why Saving Wildlife is Important, with CNN’s Anderson Cooper

– 2004: WildAid split into 2 organizations: WildAid and Wildlife Alliance. Gauntlett ran the latter and Galster stayed with her operation. In October 2004 Galster wrote the opening speech for the 13th UN CITES, delivered by then Thai Prime Minister Taksin Shinawatra, proposing the creation of a Southeast Asian Regional Wildlife Enforcement Network.[21] [22] (Former Deputy PM and later Freeland Board Chair Kraisak Choonhavan had the speech delivered to PM Taksin through his driver).  The development of the network was funded through Wildlife Alliance by the US State Department, and then later by US Agency for International Development (USAID), with Galster serving as the USAID program head (Chief of Party). Together with other US State Department projects, Galster worked with his senior staff members, principally Mark Bowman, Doug Goessman, Onkuri Majumdar, Brian Gonzales, Tim Redford, Tassanee Vejpongsa, and Chanadda Thanikulapat to supervise $30 million of USG-sponsored governance, law enforcement, and behavior change activities over the next 10 years to reduce wildlife crime in Southeast Asia and China [23] [24]

With California Fish and Game Agents Tracking Bear Poachers, featured on Discovery TV

– 2006-2007: Hosted Discovery Channel TV series “Crime Scene Wild”.[25]

– 2008: Wanting to return to the broader mandate of counter wildlife and human trafficking, Galster started Freeland. He served as its first Director, while remaining in the role of USAID’s Chief of Party for 3 consecutive USAID programs over 11 years while also hosting 15 TV shows that followed Freeland’s counter-trafficking investigations and field operations.[26] [27]

– 2010: Hosted National Geographic’s TV series, “Crimes Against Nature”.[28]

Providing police with information just before raid on Uzbek criminal ring in Bangkok

– 2011: Supported investigation and Hosted related National Geographic’s “21st Century Sex Slaves” TV documentary about Uzbek & Thai organized criminal trafficking rings.[29]

– 2013: Provided key insights to the New York Times expose on Asia’s biggest known wildlife trafficker (Xaysavang Trading Company) in a front page spread (Asia edition) by Thomas Fuller that came out on the 1st day of the 16th UN CITES Convention, held again in Bangkok in early March 2013.[30] The US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and US Secretary of State John Kerry cited the article’s research when, 6 months later, they launched the US Government’s first Transnational Organized Crime Reward ($1 million) for information leading to the dismantlement of a wildlife crime ring, namely the Xaysavang Trading Company network. [31]

Laos Kingpin Outed After Years of Failed Enforcement

– 2014-2015: When nobody turned in the Xaysavang Trading Company, Galster and the Freeland team went on to investigate the ring further and discovered a wider syndicate encircling the company, including Vietnamese Organized Crime, corrupt officers from Laos, Thailand, South Africa, and Mozambique. He coined the syndicate “Hydra” because it was hydra-headed. Continued attempts to dismantle Hydra ran into bureaucracy, indifference and corruption.[32]

Galster and Freeland traced the supply chain of Hydra and at least one competitor into Africa and set up an operation there in partnership with the Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) and African Wildlife Foundation.  Sean O’Regan, a former South African Police Detective was hired to run the Freeland-Africa program, which went on to help LATF identify and arrest numerous high level criminals who were supplying illicit elephant tusks, big cat skeletons, pangolin scales, and rhino horns to Asia. 

With Lusaka Agreement Task Force in Africa

– 2016: Galster and his investigation team provided key insights to The Guardian newspaper’s 3-part series on global wildlife trafficking that identified members and modus operandi of Hydra, including senior member Boonchai Bach. Findings from the investigation had been fed to authorities who had planned to make arrests just before the opening of CITES, but they ran into more roadblocks.  With the blessing of enforcers working the stone-walled case, the series ran during the 17th CITES Convention of Parties held in South Africa, with a heavy focus on complicity of the Laos Government.[33]

Boonchai Bach, Senior Member of Hydra, Arrested January 2018

– 2018: Galster and Freeland’s investigation team, especially two un-named former law enforcement officers, provided key insights to Thai Police on Hydra, which were used to identify and finally arrest Boonchai Bach in Nakorn Panom, Thailand on January 18. [34] Bach was released on bail and has denied the charges. The case continues.

Featured News and documentary programs:

  • Time Magazine, “Animal Mob: Organized Crime and the Wildlife Trade” (1994).
  • CNN’s “In-Focus” on Human Trafficking, former Soviet Union (1997).
  • ABC’s 20/20 “Shame of Saipan” (1999)
  • Outside Magazine, “War on Wildlife” (2004);
  • BBC’s “Tiger Traffic” (2005);
  • CNN Anderson Cooper’s “Planet in Peril” (2007);
  • Host of Discovery Channel/Animal Planet (2007-2010) series, “Crime Scene Wild” (2007-2008)
  • New York Times, author of “Tigers Need Conservation, Not Conversation,” November 2010.
  • Host of National Geographic TV series “Crimes Against Nature” (2011)
  • Host of National Geographic Explorer Program’s “21st Century Sex Slaves” (2012).
  • Featured in New York Times on wildlife kingpins (March 2013)
  • Featured in New York Times Sunday Magazine (February 2016)
  • Featured in The Guardian Newspaper series and follow-ups, September 2016 and January 2018.

References

  1. “Grinnell College Alumni Awards by Classes” (PDF). alumni.grinnell.edu. Grinnell College.
  2. Galster, Steven (1991). Afghanistan: The Making of US Policy, 1973-1990, Guide and Index. Chadwyck-Healey. p. 1700. ISBN 0898870755. 9780898870756.
  3. Galster, Steven (January 2, 1989). “Waiting in Afghanistan: What Will Follow the Pullout:”. The Nation. Vol 248, No. 1 (January 2, 1989).
  4. Galster, Steven (1991). Afghanistan: The Making of US Policy, 1973-1990. Chadwyck-Healey. p. 1700. ISBN 0898870755. 9780898870756.
  5. Galster, Steven (January 2, 1989). “Waiting in Afghanistan: What will follow the Pullout?” (Vol 248, No 1). The Nation.
  6. Galster, Steven (May 1990). “Moscow, Washington, and the Struggle for Kabul: The Cold War Continues in Afghanistan”. Afghanistan Forum. Occasional Paper #30: 15 plus appendices.
  7. Galster, Steven (October 21, 1988). “Rivalry and Reconciliation in Afghanistan: What Prospects for the Accords?”. Third World Quarterly. 10, No 4 (October 21, 1988): 1505–1541.
  8. Lifschultz, Ali and Galster, Lawrence (1991). Bordering on Treason: The Life and Trial of Arif Durrani. Pamphleteer’s Press. p. 51. ISBN 0963058703. 9780963058706.
  9. Hui, Leong Siok (Dec 4, 2004). “Cutting Edge Conservationists”. The Star, Malaysia.
  10. Cleary, Paul (1993). “Whale Wars”. Gold Hawk Productions. British Universities Film and Video Council. BBC.
  11. Valliant, John (2010). The Tiger. Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 1848946899. 9781848946897.
  12. Lemonick, Michael D. (November 1994). “Animal Genocide, Mob Style”. TIME.
  13. “Echoing Green Fellows, Steven Galster”. Echoing Green Foundation.
  14. “Global Survival Network’s Footage for Documentary Bought and Sold”. Rich Media Collections. University of Texas.
  15. Branigin, William (May 24, 1999). “Human Rights Groups Urge Action on Saipan”. Washington Post.
  16. “SGMA Says Global Survival Network Conspired with ABC 20/20”. Saipan Tribune. June 3, 1999.
  17. Feldon, Amanda (March 7, 2005). “Hunting for Tiger Poachers”. BBC 2 This World. BBC.
  18. “WildAid Watch Group Says Shark’s Fin Soup is Posing Serious Health Risks to Consumer”. Reuters. Reuters. July 4, 2001.
  19. Hui, Leong Siok (Dec 4, 2004). “Cutting Edge Conservationists”. The Star Malaysia.
  20. Singer, Natasha (May 1, 2004). “See the Last Clouded Leopard”. Outside: Cover story.
  21. Singer, Natasha (May 1, 2004). “See the Last Clouded Leopard”. Outside Magazine.
  22. Cumming-Bruce, Nick (Oct 2, 2004). “Bangkok Talks Focus on Endangered Species”. The New York Times.
  23. Casey, Michael (December 1, 2005). “Southeast Asian Nations Launch Law Enforcement Network to Fight Wildlife Smuggling”. Wild Singapore. Associated Press.
  24. “ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network 5th Meeting” (PDF). Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Retrieved May 2010. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  25. “Crime Scene Wild”. IMDb. IMDb.
  26. “The Fight Against Wildlife Trafficking, Linking Asian and African Development”. Society for International Development.
  27. “Steve Galster, Chief of Party, USAID ARREST Program”. Society for International Development.
  28. “Crimes Against Nature”. National Geographic TV. NatGeoTV.com.
  29. “21st Century Sex Slaves”. National Geographic TV. Natgeotv.com.
  30. Fuller, Thomas (March 4, 2013). “Notorious Figure in Animal Smuggling Beyond Reach of Law in Laos”. The New York Times.
  31. Fuller, Thomas (November 14, 2013). “US to Offer Reward in Wildlife Trafficking Fight”. The New York Times.
  32. Davies, Nick and Oliver Holmes (September 26, 2016). “The Crime Family at the Center of Asia’s Animal Trafficking Network”. The Guardian.
  33. Davies, Nick and Oliver Holmes (September 26, 2016). “The Crime Family at the Center of Asia’s Animal Trafficking Network”.
  34. The Guardian,Holmes, Oliver (January 20, 2018). “Police Arrest Notorious Wildlife Trafficking Suspect”.