Closing the capability gap: developing new solutions to counter maritime threats

Naval War College Review, Spring, 2008 by Victor E. Renuart, Jr., Dane S. Egli

We face a brutal enemy that has already killed thousands in our midst, and is determined to bring even greater destruction to our shores.... Since 9/11, al Qaeda and its allies have succeeded in carrying out horrific attacks across the world; al Qaeda leaders have repeatedly made clear they intend to strike our country again.

PRESIDENT G. W. BUSH, MAY 2007 (1)

America is engaged in a fight against violent extremism, an asymmetric war that differs from any other war our nation has fought. The nature of the enemy has changed dramatically during the past two decades, compelling leaders to reexamine our nation's vulnerabilities in the air, land, and maritime domains. Significant strides have been made nationally to protect the air and land domains against enemy attacks; nonetheless, this article argues, efforts to secure the maritime domain--although improving--are inadequate, and we need to sharpen our focus on maritime threats, domestically and internationally.

This article draws from the perspective of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), whose mission is to anticipate and conduct homeland defense and civil support operations within the assigned area of responsibility to defend, protect, and secure the United States and its interests. The article will summarize national-level maritime doctrine, examine the current maritime threat, and introduce new capabilities being developed to counter terrorism on the maritime front--an enduring national security challenge gaining increased attention at all levels.

AMERICA AT RISK

The global security environment is far more uncertain since the end of the Cold War and the emergence of a new, more elusive threat in the form of Islamic extremism, "a transnational movement fueled by a radical ideology of hatred, oppression, and murder," in concert with increased technology and globalization. (2) This dramatic shift in global security conditions has created vulnerabilities that have been exploited by terrorists in multiple attacks conducted against the United States and its interests.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Accordingly, terrorists associated with al Qaeda have exploited national and international vulnerabilities to achieve their goals through acts involving car bombs, commercial airplanes, suicide bombers, and other terrorist methods. Terrorists have demonstrated that they can strike targets of opportunity when and where the nation is least prepared to defend or respond, and, as many counterterrorism experts have asserted, U.S. maritime interests are particularly vulnerable targets. Additionally, an attack on our maritime assets can lead to significant impacts on American and global commerce.

UNIQUE MARITIME VULNERABILITIES

International trade--and especially America's economic vibrancy--depends heavily upon secure and reliable maritime transportation and commerce: (3)

* Globally, maritime trade constitutes over 75 percent of all international trade.

* The United States is a maritime nation, with ninety-five thousand miles of shoreline, 361 commercial ports, and a lucrative economic exclusion zone.

* America conducts 95 percent of its commercial trade (total imports and exports) via maritime conveyances.

* The maritime industry is supported by five hundred container carriers and more than 2,400 container vessels, with approximately 215 million container shipments conducted each year.

* This translates into 11.5 million containers arriving at American ports each year, moving 2.4 billion tons of cargo.

* Over eight thousand foreign vessels conduct over fifty thousand U.S. port visits each year to support this level of trade.

* Some 1,200 to 1,500 commercial vessels call on American ports daily.

FIGURE 2

AN ECONOMY LINKED TO MARITIME COMMERCE ...

* $ 264,000,000,000/yr

* 3,400,000 sq mi of EEZ

* 95,000 mi of shoreline

* 1,000 harbor channels

* 35,000,000 sq mi U.S. Jurisdiction

* 25,000 mi of inland waterways

* Import Goods from 187,000 businesses

* Export Goods from 202,000 businesses

* 3,700 Registered Terminal

* 361 "Official" Ports of Entry

* 17 Strategic Ports

* 200,000  Foreign Sailors/yr

* 2,000,000,000 Tons of Freight/yr

* 240  Shipyards

* 3,000,000,000 Tons of Oil/yr

* 134,000,000 Ferry Passengers/yr

* 3 Container "Load Centers"

* 5 LNG Ports

* 50,000 Foreign VSL Port Calls/yr

* 1 Off-Shore Oil Port   40 Off-Shore Oil-Gas Rigs

* 9,000,000  Truck-size Containers/yr

* 7,000,000 Cruise Ship Passengers/yr

* 1,400 Designated Intermodal Sites

* 318,000,000,000 galoons of petroleum products/yr

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These statistics highlight the volume of global maritime trade and significance of security challenges in the maritime domain. They point to "soft targets" that terrorists might choose to exploit in attacks against U.S. ports and shipping or by importation of weapons of mass destruction into those ports. The current fragmentation of our capability to monitor commercial vessels, cargo, groups of people, and associated infrastructures further complicates securing maritime systems and the global supply chain.