International Consensus on Small Boats

DHS policymakers spend a lot of time worrying about threats that haven’t happened yet. We also take a lot of grief from people who think that all our worrying is a waste of time—or, worse, an intentional strategy of fear-mongering. So it’s important to note those occasions when our worries have turned out to be on target.

The most recent such confirmation comes in the context of small boat terrorist attacks.

Two weeks ago, in Mumbai, India, terrorists seized a fishing vessel, killed its crew, navigated to Mumbai, and used small inflatable boats to come ashore for their attack.

DHS spent much of the last year on measures to reduce the risk that terrorists will be able to use small boats in an attack on this country.

In April, 2008, the Department developed a Small Vessel Security Strategy. The strategy outlines the goals and objectives that the Department component agencies, especially the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection, will work toward. Supporting the strategy an interagency working group has been developing an implementation plan which in the coming weeks will outline the Department’s specific intentions. All of this effort has been done in coordination with the owners and operators of small vessels, including American fishing fleets, recreational craft associations, and commercial passenger and cargo vessels.

And less than a week ago, on December 5th, an international effort led by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, resulted in the approval by the International Maritime Organization of new guidelines for small vessel security.

A year in the making, the new guidelines provide recommendations for governments and the owners and operators of small vessels and related facilities such as marinas. The recommendations encourage the registry of vessels and the sharing of such registry information between governments, the installation of access controls at marinas and on small commercial craft, as well as guidance on how to conduct vessel searches.

Numerous delegations at the International Maritime Organization meeting expressed their intent to implement the guidelines within their domestic security programs.

Getting the international community to focus on terrorism, and especially on new terrorism threats, is not a job for the impatient, but this is a case where DHS was both patient and ahead of the curve, and the reward is that we were able to move swiftly once an international consensus emerged.

Stewart Baker
Assistant Secretary, Policy

Small Boats

The tragic terror attack in Mumbai and its maritime nexus represents further cause for action on an effective international and domestic approach to small vessel security. After hijacking a fishing vessel, the terrorists used off-the-shelf GPS technology to navigate from Karachi, Pakistan to Mumbai and then simply rowed ashore in inflatable dinghies. They didn’t make much of an effort to conceal their movements.

Such brazen activity would have been detected on land but the water is a much different environment. In the maritime domain, thousands of small vessels ply international or coastal waters with relative anonymity. With limited awareness offshore, law enforcement entities are forced to respond to unfolding maritime events instead of preventing them.

The Coast Guard articulated these challenges in a 2007 report.

The emergence of transnational threats: Transnational criminals, pirates, and terrorists seek to exploit the complexity of the maritime domain and the vulnerabilities of the global supply system. Weapons of mass destruction (WMD), contraband smuggling, and small vessel threats, such as water-borne improvised explosive devices (WBIEDs), represent the greatest risks from terrorism in the maritime domain. Today's trafficking of drugs, migrants, and contraband by criminals is becoming increasingly sophisticated and threatening as well.

The vastness, anonymity, and limited governance of the global maritime domain: The maritime domain, by its nature, creates its own challenges. Legitimate uses and criminal threats are growing in a realm that spans the globe, has limited governance, and provides little transparency of activity (particularly for smaller vessels). This creates tension between recognized legal regimes and the emerging need for greater security and safety -- U.S. Coast Guard Strategy for Maritime Safety, Security and Stewardship (Download PDF)

I recently wrote an article on the new approach needed to counter the small vessel threat consistent with our maritime security strategy. To mitigate the small vessel threat, law enforcement agencies need greater maritime domain awareness, appropriate legal regimes, and partnerships across the public and private sector to implement risk-based solutions. You can read the article (PDF).

There is no singular solution to the security threat presented by small vessels. The cooperative effort to reduce this threat, and mitigate potential impacts cuts across borders, jurisdictions and agencies. It requires a collaborative effort across government, the private sector and the international community.

Significant progress has been made to reduce the risks. Efforts have included technology, information sharing, improved operational capability, as well as legal regimes. Examples include:

• Improved international regulation through the International Maritime Organization
• International cooperative efforts to enhance global maritime domain awareness
• Department Small Vessel Security Summits and Strategy
• National Association of Boating Law Administrator initiatives to improve registration requirements
• Self-propelled Semi-submersible legislation
• Development of advanced interdiction capability and capacity

We must continue to work to further overlap our layers of defense and close the current gaps in our maritime security strategy. Our solutions need to be risk-based to identify the potential illicit actors while ensuring the free-flow of legitimate commercial traffic and the freedom of movement American boaters have come to expect.

Admiral Thad Allen

Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard