Security business scrutinises Iraq transition
Dec 31, 2008 Iraq
By Sylvia Pfeifer, Defence Industries Correspondent for The Financial Times
When the clock strikes midnight in Iraq on Wednesday night, the country will enter a new era. At that moment a United Nations mandate expires, and Iraqi police and soldiers will take the lead in providing security for government and business.
The change is being watched closely by executives of the private security industry, not least those based in Britain. The sector has boomed in Iraq since the allied invasion in 2003, leading to Saddam Hussein’s downfall as president.
Contractors have played a substantial role in supporting the military, reconstruction and diplomatic operations of foreign forces in Iraq, as well as providing security for an increasing number of commercial enterprises.
Although most executives say the handover will have no material impact on their operations, some observers are warning that together with the allied troop withdrawal, it will create a sea-change for the industry.
“While the US and UK troops are there they’ve got top cover, but once they are gone, they will be on their own,” says Patrick Grayson, senior partner of GPW, a London-based corporate intelligence firm, and a veteran of the security sector.
“They will probably be the only foreign arms-carrying people in the country and be subject to Iraq law,” Mr Grayson says.
“Iraq was showtime for private military companies, like the Klondike gold rush. They played a pivotal role in filling a vacuum, helping to relieve the fighting forces [by providing security].”
Mr Grayson expects the market to become more competitive, putting private military companies under much greater commercial pressures to be more compliant and price-sensitive.
“The question is whether such strictures on them will diminish their ability to protect their clients,” he says.
Industry executives, however, while conceding they are watching the legislative change closely, insist it will have little direct impact.
Aegis is one of the most prominent London-based private security companies in Iraq, with some 1,500 people in the country working primarily for the US defence department.
Tim Spicer, the company’s founder, compares speculation about what may or may not happen with concerns over the millennium bug, which proved misplaced. “Everyone is terribly worried about what might happen on January 1, but we have been operating in Iraqi-controlled territories for some time and it is not a great concern to me,” he insists.
Martin Rudd, senior vice- president at London-based Olive Group, which has some 600 personnel deployed in Iraq, says that if anything he expects the business environment to be more “buoyant” once allied troops have withdrawn.
The number employed in Iraq’s private security industry is close to 30,000, according to Lawrence Peter, director of the Private Security Company Association of Iraq.
Of these, about 3,000-5,000 are expatriates, mainly from the US, the UK and Australia. Some 5,000-10,000 are third-country nationals while around 15,000 are Iraqis.
Although roadside bombings and other incidents in Iraq still make headlines, Mr Peter says there has been a “significant reduction in the number of violent incidents and also in the violence with which these occur”.
There has also been a large drop in the number of attacks on convoys related to the reconstruction effort over the past 52 months, he says.
Of the 29,000 or so convoys since August 2004, the attack rate has fallen from about 1:5 in January 2007 to 1:500 in November 2008.
The improved security situation has led to growing interest from outside investors. General Electric, the US conglomerate, which has been active in the country for several years, won a $3bn (£2bn) power generation contract earlier this month.
The US has struck a separate security agreement to keep about 140,000 troops in the country to 2011 but combat forces will have to leave Iraqi cities and villages by the end of June 2009 and will not be able to conduct operations without Iraqi permission. Most British troops are due to withdraw next May, with the last set to leave in July.
Like Mr Spicer at Aegis, Mr Peter says private security contractors are adopting a wait-and-see approach to next year.
“They will want to see how the Iraqis manage the first incidents that may or may not occur. What concerns me is not the legislative system but what happens from the time of an incident to the first 24-48 hours. We need to have cool heads on both sides to build mutual trust and confidence,” he says.
Tags: Iraq
Iraqis to take charge of Green Zone in 2009
Dec 31, 2008 Iraq
BAGHDAD — When the calendar flips to 2009 on Thursday, Iraq’s government will gain control over the Green Zone and its own airspace and some jurisdiction over security contractors under the terms of a deal that will fundamentally change how the United States operates here.
The changes, outlined in a landmark security agreement the Bush administration signed in November, are part of the broadest transfer of responsibilities to Iraqi hands since 2004, when the government regained sovereignty from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).
The most visible changes will take place in the Green Zone, the fortified section of Baghdad that has been the U.S. headquarters since the invasion in 2003.
Last week, Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, called it the Iraqi Security Zone. U.S. forces will continue to issue ID cards and act as advisers for months to come, but except for the sprawling U.S. Embassy complex along the Tigris River, the Iraqis “will be in charge” Jan. 1, Odierno said.
The changes represent “a palpable shift in power,” said Daniel Serwer, former executive director of the Iraq Study Group, a panel appointed by Congress in 2006 to assess the situation here. “If the Americans had the bigger office on Dec. 31, they’ll have the smaller one on Jan. 1.”
The U.S.-Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, mandates the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq by 2011 and establishes guidelines for their actions until then. It also sets terms for non-military personnel operating in Iraq, including private security contractors who guard diplomats and other civilians working here.
Until now, all American contractors have avoided Iraq’s jurisdiction under a rule issued by the CPA in 2004 that said contractors were “immune from Iraqi legal process.”
That arrangement has been deeply unpopular with the Iraqi public since September 2007, when guards from the Blackwater company opened fire and killed 14 Iraqis in Baghdad, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Five of the guards were indicted on manslaughter charges this month.
The SOFA explicitly ends that immunity for contractors working for the military or Defense Department. The agreement says nothing about contractors such as Blackwater that work for civilian agencies such as the State Department — and it is unclear how much their operations would be affected, if at all.
Police powers
Adnan al-Asadi, a senior deputy in Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, said Iraqi police will be able to search the offices and vehicles of private security contractors, confiscate illegal weapons and expel companies operating without a license.
“Now it is our turn to be responsible for the safety of our country,” said al-Asadi, whose huge ministry employs 650,000 police and other security personnel.
A State Department inspector general’s report released Dec. 18 said it was “still unresolved” what the SOFA will mean to Blackwater and two other private security companies that protect diplomats here.
The mere prospect of Americans in Iraqi jails could result in changes. A report this month by the U.S. Institute of Peace, a Washington think tank, urged the incoming Obama administration to develop contingency plans in case Iraq exercises its new powers to prosecute U.S. contractors or troops in Iraqi courts.
It said the Iraqi government “may quickly assert its authority” to prosecute U.S. citizens, “especially given the current high pitch of nationalist sentiment in Iraq.”
The State Department report said that if Blackwater and other contractors are no longer granted immunity, many “personal security specialists would leave, and those remaining would ask for and receive premium compensation” at much greater cost to taxpayers.
Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association, a trade group in Washington, called the SOFA “terrible.” He said contractors will “have no protection” from arrest and detention.
The Blackwater issue
In April, the State Department renewed its contract with Blackwater, which is the largest security contractor in Iraq with 1,000 employees. The State Department said it would await the results of an ongoing FBI investigation into the shooting in 2007 before possibly reconsidering.
Iraq canceled Blackwater’s license after the shooting but had no legal authority to enforce a ban. Al-Asadi said the company may have to leave Iraq because the Ministry of Interior has denied its application for a new license.
Al-Asadi said Blackwater is among 70 private security companies that have been “working under the cover of the American forces” without a license.
“If they don’t have a license, they should leave,” he said. “Only those with licenses can work here.”
Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrell declined to comment. In an e-mail, she wrote, “Blackwater works in Iraq at the behest and under the direction of the United States government.”
“We are not envisioning changing our contracting practice” with Blackwater, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Susan Ziadeh said Sunday. She refused to answer “hypothetical” questions about who would protect diplomats if Blackwater was expelled by the Iraqi government. “We’re not there yet,” she said.
Though it remains unsettled who will accompany diplomatic convoys, al-Asadi said he was confident about what kinds of weapons contractors will, and will not, tote in the new year.
As of Thursday, most foreign contractors will not be allowed to possess machine guns that fire .50-caliber bullets or larger. If they’re caught with such heavy weapons, Iraqi security forces will take them away.
“An AK-47 is enough to protect them,” al-Asadi said. “They don’t have the right to have more effective weapons than we have.”
Tags: Green Zone, Iraq, IZ
Becoming a Real Partner with Africa
Dec 29, 2008 Africa, Jake's Posts
In a previous posting I proposed the concept of an entire African country putting itself up for sale. Well actually, to be more precise it was a lease and not a sale. But how would that work? Could it work? And what would the benefits of such an event really be?
The practicalities of putting together the necessary contracts and treaties, while time consuming, would not be that difficult, assuming the basic criteria for negotiations were in place.
Tags: Africa, Jake's Posts
For Sale by Owner: African Country. Serious Inquiries Only.
Dec 29, 2008 Africa, Commentary, Jake's Posts
o Background: By way of national public referendum the citizens of the Democratic Republic of Somsierraswangolaongo (DRS) have agreed to offer the state for lease.
o Price/Bidding Terms: Closed/Blind Bidding Process. All reasonable offers will be considered.
o Offer in Principle: In exchange for the terms stipulated below the DRS (Lessor) offers the Lessee controlling interest in all state-owned companies that currently manage the countries impressive natural resources. These include agricultural, mineral and petroleum rights. Sale or export of all DRS resources are subject to federal taxes.
o Terms of sale/lease:
o DRC (Lessor) offers a 50-year lease with option for 3 additional 10-year addendums if agreed to by both parties.
o Qualified Bidders (Lessee) must be a representative democracy or a coalition of representative democracies
o Lessees decision to participate in the bidding process must be made via public/open congressional/parliamentary referendum/vote
o Lessee agrees to provide both short and long-term security to the entire state and not simply the urban areas. Note: this includes specifically the restive areas to the east of the Somsierraswangolaongo highlands.
o Lessee agrees to take control/responsibility for the training and if need be the execution of law enforcement duties countrywide.
o Lessee agrees to use 33% of final price to develop all aspects of society including but not limited to: social, medical, fiscal, education, military, diplomatic and commercial.
o Lessor reserves the right to lease herself to the Lessee of her choosing, or to withdraw the offer entirely, at anytime during the bidding process
o Administration: All bids must include detailed plans regarding how they intend to deal with the terms listed herein.
____________________________________________________________
Imagine seeing such a posting in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times or The Economist!! No doubt there would be a lot of headwind to such a proposal but then again changing the status quo is never easy. The world community (read: United Nations) has failed the people of Africa on nearly every level. Their ability to provide short-term aid must be applauded but conversely their ability to deliver lasting improvements must be viewed as an abject failure.
There is an old saying, ‘when everyone is in charge, nothing gets done.’ The premise of the UN is sound and should be reinforced but their mission and mandate must be modified. It’s time for new strategies in Africa and not the continuation of those which have proven, time and again, to fail. -Jake-
Tags: Africa, Jake's Posts
Foreign security teams to lose immunity from prosecution in Iraq
Dec 28, 2008 Industry News, Iraq
By David Pallister at The Guardian
Thousands of British security contractors in Iraq will have their immunity from prosecution under local laws lifted on 1 January, exposing them to a flawed criminal justice system widely regarded as unlikely to offer a fair trial.
Their new legal status is a consequence of the troop withdrawal agreement reached between the US and Iraqi governments. Since 2004, all foreign contractors working for the coalition that toppled Saddam have had immunity from Iraqi laws, and few have been prosecuted in their own countries.
But after months of negotiations the Americans have ceded judicial rights to the Iraqi government over all contractors and their companies working for the US armed forces. This includes most of the up to 3,000 Britons employed by security firms. The Iraqi insistence on securing jurisdiction was influenced by the shooting of 17 innocent civilians by guards from the US company Blackwater in September last year. Five of them were charged last week in the US with manslaughter, one of the few cases where contractors with a reputation for aggressive actions have faced justice back home.
UK companies have a disproportionate share of the security business in Iraq, with contracts worth more than $1bn (£680m) - at least one sixth of the total US spend - over the last five years, according to a recent US report. Seven British companies are in the top 30 by contract value.
They have difficult decisions about whether to go or to stay, according to Andy Bearpark, director of the British Associoation of Private Security Companies. “They will have to make a commercial view on whether they will continue to do business in Iraq. I am sure some will, but there may be others who judge the risk as too great and decide to pull out.”
The principal concern is the state of the Iraqi penal system. Recent official human rights reports speak of long detention periods in overcrowded prisons, torture of detainees, poor access to lawyers and an overstretched judiciary prone to political interference and corruption.
US department of defence contractors “have been thrown under a bus”, says Doug Brooks, president of the Washington-based International Peace Operations Association, one of several voices for the industry. In Britain, Bearpark agrees that “there will be concerns that the Iraqi courts may not be truly professional and impartial”. Andreas Calton Smith, managing director of Control Risks, with work including mobile security details for the Foreign Office, said: “It will be necessary to ramp up our local representation in the country as well as making sure our employees fully understand Iraqi law.”
There will be exceptions to the new rules. The nearly 400 security contractors employed by the Foreign Office will continue to be classified as “technical and administrative staff” and accorded diplomatic protection under the Vienna Convention.
Despite the planned military reduction by coalition forces over the next two years, the demand for security guards is likely to increase, according to the US special inspector general for Iraq, Stuart Bowen. In his latest report he says: “Requirement for private security services would likely increase to compensate for support previously provided by the military.”
Three contractors hurt in Afghan suicide attack
Dec 27, 2008 Afghanistan
HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — Three foreign nationals were hurt in a suicide car bomb attack in western Afghanistan on Friday as hundreds of Afghans protested in the south after US troops killed 11 suspected militants.
The suicide attacker struck a convoy leaving a police training centre on the outskirts of the western city of Herat, US officials said. Two Afghan women were also slightly hurt by shattered glass, witnesses said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was similar to scores carried out by extremist Taliban militants waging an insurgency against the US-backed government.
“Two civilian contractors were wounded this morning in western Afghanistan when their convoy was struck by a suicide vehicle bomber,” the US military said in a statement that did not identify the civilians.
An international soldier was also slightly hurt, a US military official told AFP separately.
The civilians worked for the US-based security company DynCorp and were involved in training Afghan police, a US government official said, without releasing their nationalities.
The Taliban were ousted in a US-led invasion for sheltering Al-Qaeda after the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York.
Their insurgency, which makes heavy use of suicide and other bombings, has been at its fiercest this year despite the efforts of nearly 70,000 foreign troops under US and NATO command, and their Afghan counterparts.
The US military announced meanwhile it had killed 11 militants in the southern province of Kandahar in an operation against a Taliban network behind a series of roadside bombings, including some that killed foreign soldiers.
The militants targeted in the district of Maiwand, a Taliban stronghold about 75 kilometres (45 miles) west of the city of Kandahar, had opened fire on the troops on Thursday from inside a compound.
The soldiers retaliated with gunfire and hand grenades, it said in a statement.
“After neutralising the threat, the force searched the buildings, discovering 11 militants were killed,” it said.
Troops also found landmines, grenades and machine-guns as well as bomb-making material, which they destroyed, the statement said. A building collapsed in secondary blasts caused by the mines.
Afghan authorities also said those killed appeared to have been militants, but locals claimed most were ordinary shopkeepers.
“They were civilians — most of them I knew were vendors selling stuff in the district,” a resident who gave his name as Mohammed Saleh told AFP by telephone.
A district official said hundreds of people had demonstrated against the US operation, blocking a main road for several hours and burning tyres.
In other incidents, three Afghan policemen were killed when a bomb struck their vehicle in southern Helmand province on Thursday, provincial police chief Asadullah Sherzad said.
Elsewhere, three Afghans working for a road construction company were kidnapped by suspected Taliban in the northwestern province of Badghis, provincial police chief Mohammad Ayub Niaz Yar said.
Tags: Afghanistan, DynCorp
UN force in Congo warns of rebel build-up
Dec 24, 2008 Africa
By EDITH M. LEDERER – Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo said Tuesday it has mounting evidence of a build-up by rebels along key roads in the volatile east, despite a cease-fire in its fight against government troops.
The force, known as MONUC, said peacekeeping bases in Masisi territory have been placed on high alert as a result of the mounting evidence of a rebel build-up.
The Masisi area is northwest of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, where rebels launched an offensive in late August. They declared a cease-fire on Oct. 29 as they reached the edge of Goma.
The report comes a day after the rebels — Laurent Nkunda’s National Council for the Defense of the People, or CNDP — warned they will walk away from peace talks if negotiators fail to address what it claimed were cease-fire violations allegedly committed by the Congolese army.
U.N. peacekeepers are now conducting additional patrols in strategic areas of the Masisi region, MONUC said in a statement released at U.N. headquarters in New York.
The conflict in eastern Congo is fueled by festering ethnic hatred left over from the 1994 slaughter of a half-million Tutsis in Rwanda, and Congo’s 1996-2002 civil wars, which drew neighboring countries in a rush to plunder Congo’s mineral wealth.
Nkunda gained control of a large swath of North Kivu during his latest offensive which drove over 250,000 people from their homes. Many Congolese soldiers fled the advancing rebels, and U.N. peacekeepers were unable to protect civilians from being killed or raped.
The rebels and representatives of the Congolese government have been meeting to reach a solution to the latest outbreak of fighting. They agreed to the creation of a buffer zone controlled by U.N. peacekeepers. But the rebels accuse government troops of occupying territory the rebels have recently vacated.
New year brings less clarity to Blackwater in Iraq
Dec 24, 2008 Industry News, Iraq
By MIKE BAKER – Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — When a team of Blackwater Worldwide security contractors opened fire last year in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square, nobody was quite sure if a crime had been committed, and if so, whether there was a prosecutor with the authority to bring charges.
More than a year after the shooting that left at least 14 Iraqi civilians dead — an incident that led Iraqi leaders to demand Blackwater leave the country and forced Chief Executive Eric Prince to defend his company in hearings before Congress — the rules under which security firms operate in Iraq are still muddled.
And a new U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that takes effect Jan. 1 isn’t offering any help on the central question of whether Blackwater’s roughly 1,000 guards working in Iraq are subject to that nation’s courts.
“The immunity question — the largest question being talked about — is not addressed in the … agreement,” said Alan Chvotkin, who works on behalf of contractors, including Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater, as executive vice president and counsel at the Arlington, Va.-based Professional Services Council.
“The implication is there is none, but there’s some hedging on that question. As of right now, there’s still some ambiguity. And smart people disagree about it.”
Earlier this month, federal prosecutors in Washington won indictments on manslaughter and other charges against five Blackwater guards involved in the shooting. Their attorneys are expected to challenge the charges, arguing prosecutors used a law that covers soldiers and military contractors but not civilian contractors who work for the State Department.
That distinction also clouds what’s know as the “status of forces” agreement, which governs the U.S. military presence in Iraq and was approved by the Iraqi parliament last month. It describes U.S. contractors as those working for the “Armed Forces,” and does not directly address security guards — including those working for Blackwater — who operate under a contract issued by a civilian agency such as the State Department.
These are critical questions for Blackwater and its future. Based in the marshlands of northeastern North Carolina, Blackwater has used the more than $1 billion in government contracts won since the start of the Iraq war to grow from a small company focused on training to a security industry leader with a brand-name that’s known worldwide.
Blackwater is the largest contractor providing security in Iraq and most of its work for the State Department is in protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq — a job the agency is unable to handle on its own.
While Blackwater has announced plans to cut back its security contracting business, it remains committed to its most high-profile mission for as long as it has a paying customer.
“We are following the direction of our U.S. government client,” said Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell, who referred specific questions about the status-of-forces pact to the State Department. “We will do as they ask, for as long as they ask.”
Those inside the security industry are nervous about what they describe as the State Department’s reluctance to answer their questions about how to interpret the status of forces agreement, other than to suggest the companies prepare to work in Iraq without immunity from its justice system.
Tara Lee, a partner at the law firm DLA Piper in Reston, Va., who has represented security contractors other than Blackwater, said contractors pressed State Department officials at a recent meeting, asking “Do you plan to get answers and some follow-on guidance to contractors in Iraq before the jurisdiction takes effect on Jan. 1?”
Lee recalled the answer: “No.”
Contractors were originally granted immunity from Iraqi authorities under Decree 17, issued by L. Paul Bremer during his tenure as the head of the civilian administration the U.S. installed in Iraq. Chvotkin said he believes Blackwater’s guards still have immunity under that order, but may lose that protection if Iraq’s parliament specifically eliminates it.
Without such protection from Iraqi law, the State Department’s inspector general concluded in a report obtained by The Associated Press last week that many security contractors would leave the country, while those who remained would demand premium compensation — boosting the already expensive costs of protecting American diplomats.
Meanwhile, it’s not even clear whether Blackwater will continue to be able to operate in Iraq. Two of the three security contractors working for the State Department — DynCorp International and Triple Canopy — have licenses to operate in Iraq. Blackwater does not, although it has applied for one.
The State Department inspector general also noted that prospect in its report, and said the agency needs to make contingency plans in case Blackwater is forced to leave.
Blackwater officials reiterate they’re committed to honoring their contract with the State Department. But in a note published in a company e-mail newsletter earlier this month, director of corporate communications John Wrenn said the status-of-forces agreement doesn’t make things any clearer.
“The new agreement creates as many problems as it solves,” Wrenn wrote. “It will be a challenge for the new administration as they navigate their way to closure in both Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Iraqi lawmakers reject draft bill extending stay of non-U.S. troops
Dec 21, 2008 Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) – After heated arguments, the Iraqi parliament turned down the first draft of a bill Saturday that would have allowed foreign troops, including British forces, to remain in Iraq after the U.N. mandate expires on December 31.
Kurdish legislator Mahmoud Othman said the measure was sent back to Iraqi Cabinet members for reworking before resubmitting it to lawmakers. There is no parliamentary deadline for the measure to pass.
The bill does not apply to U.S. troops because the United States last month reached a Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government that calls for American troops to leave Iraqi cities by June 2009, and to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011.
But after December 31 other foreign troops would not be authorized to remain in Iraq. This could cause a problem for Britain, which has the second-largest number of troops in Iraq after the United States.
Britain was the leading U.S. ally during the invasion of Iraq and still has about 4,000 troops based outside the southern city of Basra. Five other nations — Albania, Australia, El Salvador, Estonia and Romania — have a total of fewer than 2,000 troops Iraq, according to the Multi-National Force-Iraq Web site.
British troops will begin leaving Iraq in May 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a joint statement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a visit to Iraq on Wednesday.
Othman said some legislators argued that the bill had not been assigned to committees, as is the custom before a measure’s first reading. The session became so contentious that the speaker threatened to resign, lawmakers said.
Lawmakers will take a holiday break for Christmas and New Year but could be called back into session by the parliament speaker, Othman said.
Wrangling over the bill on non-U.S. troops began Wednesday when the first reading took place.
Leave it to professionals to fight pirate menace
Dec 21, 2008 Industry News
I found this article on the Business Insurance website. It gives good insight into how the insurance industry views the use of private security onboard ships to counter piracy. Keep in mind this is a complicated case because you have the shipping companies who don’t always own the actual vessel. So you would then also have the ship’s owner with a stake in the game. You also have the owner(s) of the cargo. You have the crew and then you have the insurance companies who have to underwrite it all. The crew does not usually give a wit about the cargo. The shipping company may or may not really care about the ship itself if they are merely leasing it. You get the idea. But the most important player here, in my opinion, is the insurance company. They drive the rates/premiums that companies must pay to operate.
TCO
________________________________________________________________________
Dec. 22, 2008
SOME MATTERS ARE best left to the professionals. We believe that should be the case where combatting piracy is concerned.
As we report on page 1, there’s an ongoing debate in shipping and insurance circles over the wisdom of putting armed security on ships traveling the pirate-infested waters of Africa.
There are reasonable arguments on both sides of the issue. Advocates of arming merchant ships say nonlethal responses buy time at best and that navies simply aren’t up to the task of patrolling more than 1 million square miles of sea. Opponents respond having guns aboard can lead to unintended consequences, such as the inadvertent killing of innocent civilians and the possibility that a confrontation with pirates will escalate far beyond what anyone imagined. And in some cases, having firearms aboard a ship simply is illegal.
This is a case where we believe the opponents have the stronger case. Piracy is an international problem that can’t be dealt with on an ad hoc basis using uncoordinated private security measures. We’re under no illusions that ending the curse of modern piracy will be quick or easy. The new piracy has been allowed to fester by the international community for far too long. But it is the international community, through the navies of its individual member states, that must respond. This is a job for the professionals.
Piracy is an international issue. The new pirates make no distinction among national flags when they strike. Only a coordinated international response relying on official military power can resolve that issue in a satisfactory manner.
Tags: Piracy
