CIMSEC continues their series on “non-navies” with “Narco-Submarines: Drug Cartels’ Innovative Technology,” by Byron Ramirez. It provides an overview of the state of narco-sub development, employment, and countermeasures. It also announces the imminent publication of an unclassified study, “Narco-Submarines – Specially Fabricated Vessels Used For Drug Smuggling Purposes,” to be released by the Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO).
Recently the “Coast Guard Compass” reported that an agreement had been struck with the Royal Navy that some Coast Guard enlisted volunteers (MKs and EMs) would be assigned accompanied tours on Royal Navy frigates.
I passed this along to a friend in the UK who blogs at “ThinkDefence.” He passed it along to his readerrship. I think you might find the comments interesting.
CIMSEC (Center for Maritime Security) is looking for articles on maritime border control. If interested in making a contribution, you can check it out here. Deadline is August 15 and will be published August 19-23.
CIMSEC continues their “Non-Navy” discussion with “Fisheries Crime: Bridging the Conceptual Gap and Practical Response.”
They address more than just Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing. They talk about problems highlighted in a study conducted by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on transnational criminal activities in the fishing industry :
•Fishers trafficked for the purpose of forced labor on board fishing vessels are severely abused;
•There is frequency of child trafficking in the fishing industry;
•Transnational organized criminal groups are engaged in marine living resource crimes in relation to high value, low volume species such as abalone;
•Some transnational fishing operators launder illegally caught fish through transshipments at sea and fraudulent catch documentation;
•Fishing licensing and control system is vulnerable to corruption;
•Fishing vessels are used for the purpose of smuggling of migrants, illicit traffic in drugs (primarily cocaine), illicit traffic in weapons, and acts of terrorism; and
•Fishers are often recruited by organized criminal groups due to their skills and knowledge of the sea and are seldom masterminds behind organized criminal activities involving the fishing industry or fishing vessels.[1]
The Coast Guard is most likely to encounter these problems in the EEZ in the Western Pacific, including the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument that is expected to expanded and in the EEZs of friendly island nations that rely on the US to assist with enforcement. Unfortunately assets for enforcement in these areas have been extremely limited.
CIMSEC is doing a series on “non-navies” and the first,”The Mumbai Attack: Terrorism from the Sea, talks about the attack on Mumbai and how it might have been thwarted including cultivating the public as an information source.
This is not the first time CIMSEC has talked about the attack, an earlier post “Indian Maritime Security After Mumbai,” July 2, 2012, by Mark Munson, talked about the difficulty of actually converting domain awareness into actionable information.
We have also talked about the attack, primarily here. (Note, apparently reports that the terrorists killed two Indian Coast Guard officers were untrue.)
Maritime Executive has a article regarding the necessity of an integrated Coast Guard. Don’t know that there is anything we haven’t talked about before, but always night to get another perspective.
USCGC Kathleen Moore (WPC-1109)
MarineLog is reporting the Coast Guard has exercised a $255.1M option for six more Webber Class WPCs plus spares with Bollinger bringing to 30 the total number ordered from this shipyard. Ten of these have been delivered.
The US Naval Institute News service has a short story about the evacuation of more than half a million people from Southern Manhattan following the attack on 9-11 as told by former Commandant James Loy. Apparently this is part of much larger oral history project.
Based on 15 interviews conducted by Paul Stillwell from August 2002 to August 2006. The volume contains 621 pages of interview transcript plus appendices and a comprehensive index. The transcript is copyright 2014 by the U.S. Naval Institute; the interviewee placed no restrictions on its use.
I’ve posted the video above before, but it is an excellent tribute to the spirit of those that responded so unselfishly to this attack.
Not commentary, but something that has been predicted, and two you might like to see.
As we have been told might happen, gCaptain tells us a cruise ship is planning to transit the North West Passage through the Arctic.
Then, just for fun, there are some great photos of the USS Constitution, and a video of some time spent on the mainmast of the Charles W. Morgan.
Former Commandant, Adm. Papp, has a new job, as reported here in Stars and Stripes.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 