Updated -- Dealing with piracy...What's your endgame?
The recent pirate attack on the M/V MAERSK ALABAMA has heightened the interest in the piracy problem. We continue to work very closely with the international community, maritime industry, as well as our interagency and military partners to help find a solution to this problem.
Tomorrow, several Coast Guard Leaders will be interviewed on this topic:
Admiral Allen well be interviewed for tomorrow's "This Week with George Stephanopoulus" on ABC.
Two interviews will be on Fox News: RDML James Watson is scheduled to appear at 11:35 a.m. and RADM William Baumgartner scheduled at 5:30 p.m.
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Originally published 12/3/2008:
Shipmates,
There has been a lot of attention paid recently to the dramatic increase in acts of piracy in and around the Horn of Africa. It is a vexing problem, but one that must be solved. International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary General Efthimios Mitropoulos has called piracy an "insult to civilization."
We believe it is as well.
Piracy is an international problem that requires an international solution. Many steps in the right direction have already been taken; including the passing of UN Security Council Resolutions 1814/1816/1838, which allow entry into Somali territorial waters to ensure critical food shipments can reach their destination. However, these primarily address monitoring and response operations...until now.
Previously, the foundational challenge of addressing the problem of piracy was the lack of an established end game, or means to hold the offenders accountable within a legal system. Somali-based piracy is flourishing because it is profitable and nearly consequence-free due to the lack of governance and a judicial system in Somalia. Although governments and industry have focused considerable attention on interdiction, an essential element of any comprehensive counter-piracy plan is the establishment of a regionally based and readily accessible "consequence delivery system" to bring interdicted pirates to justice. Mutually agreed upon procedures for this must be established before an event occurs -- trying to finalize policy during an international incident is a recipe for confusion and failure. This is very similar to counterdrug operations that take place pursuant to international agreements that allow for the prosecution of those involved.
Yesterday (Dec. 2, 2008), the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed UNSCR 1846. From our perspective, the most significant aspect of this resolution is its inclusion of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts (SUA) clause. This clause, based on the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, provides an immediately available instrument for logistically effective consequence delivery applicable to 78% of the world?s States (those nations who have signed the Convention). The SUA Convention was the result of the hijacking and murder of passengers aboard the Cruise Ship ACHILLE LAURO in 1985 by the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF). The act was doubly egregious because the murdered victim, Leon Klinghoffer, was wheel chair bound and defenseless. The SUA Convention was adopted by the IMO in 1988 and came into force in 1992.
SUA applies to nearly all of the attacks occurring in the Gulf of Aden, and obliges State Parties to criminalize such acts and establish jurisdiction when the offense is committed against their vessels or nationals. SUA establishes a framework whereby masters of ships may deliver suspected SUA offenders to a coastal State Party and the coastal State Party is obliged to accept custody and extradite or prosecute unless it can articulate why the Convention is not applicable. Leveraging States SUA obligations in conjunction with existing international law against piracy provides an effective legal framework to deliver an "endgame." We have worked for several months now with our partners on the Joint Staff, through the "interagency process", and with our international partners to pursue this outcome. This is definitely a step in the right direction and I will provide updates in the future.
ADM A
Tomorrow, several Coast Guard Leaders will be interviewed on this topic:
Admiral Allen well be interviewed for tomorrow's "This Week with George Stephanopoulus" on ABC.
Two interviews will be on Fox News: RDML James Watson is scheduled to appear at 11:35 a.m. and RADM William Baumgartner scheduled at 5:30 p.m.
--------
Originally published 12/3/2008:
Shipmates,
There has been a lot of attention paid recently to the dramatic increase in acts of piracy in and around the Horn of Africa. It is a vexing problem, but one that must be solved. International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary General Efthimios Mitropoulos has called piracy an "insult to civilization."
We believe it is as well.
Piracy is an international problem that requires an international solution. Many steps in the right direction have already been taken; including the passing of UN Security Council Resolutions 1814/1816/1838, which allow entry into Somali territorial waters to ensure critical food shipments can reach their destination. However, these primarily address monitoring and response operations...until now.
Previously, the foundational challenge of addressing the problem of piracy was the lack of an established end game, or means to hold the offenders accountable within a legal system. Somali-based piracy is flourishing because it is profitable and nearly consequence-free due to the lack of governance and a judicial system in Somalia. Although governments and industry have focused considerable attention on interdiction, an essential element of any comprehensive counter-piracy plan is the establishment of a regionally based and readily accessible "consequence delivery system" to bring interdicted pirates to justice. Mutually agreed upon procedures for this must be established before an event occurs -- trying to finalize policy during an international incident is a recipe for confusion and failure. This is very similar to counterdrug operations that take place pursuant to international agreements that allow for the prosecution of those involved.
Yesterday (Dec. 2, 2008), the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed UNSCR 1846. From our perspective, the most significant aspect of this resolution is its inclusion of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts (SUA) clause. This clause, based on the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, provides an immediately available instrument for logistically effective consequence delivery applicable to 78% of the world?s States (those nations who have signed the Convention). The SUA Convention was the result of the hijacking and murder of passengers aboard the Cruise Ship ACHILLE LAURO in 1985 by the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF). The act was doubly egregious because the murdered victim, Leon Klinghoffer, was wheel chair bound and defenseless. The SUA Convention was adopted by the IMO in 1988 and came into force in 1992.
SUA applies to nearly all of the attacks occurring in the Gulf of Aden, and obliges State Parties to criminalize such acts and establish jurisdiction when the offense is committed against their vessels or nationals. SUA establishes a framework whereby masters of ships may deliver suspected SUA offenders to a coastal State Party and the coastal State Party is obliged to accept custody and extradite or prosecute unless it can articulate why the Convention is not applicable. Leveraging States SUA obligations in conjunction with existing international law against piracy provides an effective legal framework to deliver an "endgame." We have worked for several months now with our partners on the Joint Staff, through the "interagency process", and with our international partners to pursue this outcome. This is definitely a step in the right direction and I will provide updates in the future.
ADM A
Posted at
8:44 PM
14 Comments:
I keep being asked when the USCG will be going to the Horn of Africa to stop the pirates. Will we?
John,
Combating piracy is an international, interagency and private industry effort. The Coast Guard, as just one of many interested federal agencies, is working with its partners and within those industry and international communities to develop appropriate safeguards and responses to the serious issue of piracy.
Currently, Coast Guard forces are not deployed in counter-piracy efforts in the Horn of Africa area of operations. Any future Request for Forces (RFF) would necessarily originate with the Department of Defense. The Combatant Commander, US Central Command (USCENTCOM) is responsible for coordinating U.S. military operations within that region. RFFs provide a means for one military command to request support from another in order to fill a capability requirement.
The Coast Guard maintains a persistent presence in the USCENTCOM area of responsibility; however, these forces are in the Arabian Gulf supporting maritime security operations in Iraqi waters (We will post an update on these operations in the near future). USCG forces will continue to support USCENTCOM in those missions they deem appropriate and are within the scope of the existing RFF.
Admiral, I take it from your answer that any CG cutter deployments to the Horn of Africa are only possible if requested by USCENTCOM. So CG ops in the area are only speculation until confirmed by proper authority. I wasn't able to read between the lines of your answer if you are generally in support if such a request ever came across your desk?
John,
Thanks for the follow-up question. It is a little complicated but here is the explanation. While there are occassions where the Coast Guard could operate out of the Western Hemisphere independently, we generally allocate our resources to the DOD combatant commander. This is similar to providing resources to U.S. Southern Command (JIATF-South). In cases where we need to conduct a law enforcement end game or divert to another mission (i.e. SAR or migrant ops) Tactical Control (TACON) would shift back to the Coast Guard. At great distances we can still exert TACON if needed, but it is usually more effective to operate under a combatant commander's task force as we do in the CENTCOM AOR. It really becomes a question of what capability is best suited to achieve the effect desired and what command and control structure facilitates that execution. For those reasons it is not likely we would independently deploy to the Horn of Africa. Any deployment of additional Coast Guard forces to the area would be in response to a "request for forces" (RFF) from the U.S. Central Command.
ADM A
Hello? Supressing piracy is one of the classic maritime force functions, yes? Anyone at the Pentagon or the Navy Annex remember what "...to the shores of Tripoli..." was all about? Maybe, supressing PIRACY? The young, untested nation, with tiny naval forces, showing the Stars and Stripes in the Med and along the Barbary Coast, sending the clear message "Don't tred on me!"
Now, we're so wrapped up in "turf" and "ricebowls" that those senior leaders in the Sea Services are little more than Naval bureaucrats scurring around to protect some esoteric budget item, rather than sending their SHIPS and SEAFARERS across the blue water to deal with an INTERNATIONAL threat. (And "land the landing force"...my beloved USMC!)
What will it take...the TAJIKISTAN Navy stepping up, crushing the threat, and becoming heroes to the maritime world? While we citizens and veterans hang our heads in shame at the US having nothing but a first rate paper-pushing bureaucracy and at best a second rate Naval Service...?
I am confused as to why the SUA applies to most of the pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden...Is this because most are occurring in Somalia's territorial sea?
Megan,
There was a similar question over at USNI's new blog (http://blog.usni.org/?p=223#comments)
Answer: Delivery of suspects can be made to any State in the region, particularly those that are contracting parties to the SUA Convention. Because piracy is one of the few ?universal offenses? in international law, any country can prosecute a pirate, regardless of the pirate?s nationality. For example, US law (18 USC 1651) permits this. The question is which countries in and out of the region have domestic law that fully implements the international law against piracy. The beauty of using the SUA Convention is that contracting states to SUA have an obligation to implement domestic laws to enable them to investigate and then extradite or prosecute, so there?s a clear process in place (or supposed to be) for contracting states to SUA. We?re not contemplating prosecutions in or extraditions from Somalia - like you alluded to, there?s not sufficient judicial infrastructure there to manage this challenge.
I think all of the countries in the world should take action to fight with the pirates.
Somalia's territorial sea is the very place that we should try to beat them. Hope there would no more pirates in future
Admiral, in light of recent events leading to the detention of Somali pirates onboard a USN ship (pending prosecution in Kenya), I'm wondering whether there have been discussions about pursuing additional avenues of prosecution of pirates. For example, has anyone raised the idea of the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecuting pirates? Although unlike genocide, piracy is not specifically within the ICC's jurisdiction. But it is a universal crime and an argument can be made that these are aggressive acts which Somalia has been unable/unwilling to prosecute on its own, therefore the ICC should assert jurisdiction. Thanks for your time and ongoing insight on the issue, Susan
Moderator Response:
Susan, you might find the discussion from this transcript interesting/relevant to your question:
http://www.defenselink.mil/dodcmsshare/BloggerAssets/2009-02/02180910251620090217_CaptMichel_transcript.pdf
It is really harmful for countries relations whether politically or economically to have pirates in that part of world and even anywhere else, I believe that this is every countries responsibility to stop them.
It's funny, I was saying to my husband we need to send the Coast Guard in to rescue Captain Phillips. With their experience and assets, the Captain's escape attempt might have been successful if a cutter had been nearby.
I do not think sending the Coast Guard there to patrol would be effective, however desirable it may seem. As has been stated repeatedly, that is a vast area, and it would be nearly impossible to capture any of the Somalians effectively.
It might be better advised to have armed escorts with any US flagged ships in the area, or failing that thought, perhaps armed personnel on board.
However, at some point the civilized nations will have to get together and stop this piracy dead in the water. Yes, small pun intended.
Take or try to take American ship and hold American captive on the world stage, bring them here for prosecution. By the time their sentences are up, there should be a government you can repatriate them to. My hawaiioceanlaw blog has some other thoughts.
I agree with you.
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