ARTICLE

January 2004

U.S.-Led Coalition Seeks To Block Weapon Shipments

by Harold Kennedy

The United States and 10 other nations have embarked upon a controversial plan to limit the spread of weapons of mass destruction by blocking suspect shipments by air, land or sea.

Since May, when President Bush launched the effort—known as the Proliferation Security Initiative—the U.S. Navy and allied forces have conducted five maritime-interdiction exercises in the Pacific Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Another one, the first to be led by the United States, is scheduled later this month in the Arabian Sea. Four more are planned in coming weeks.

PSI is “an essential component of the U.S. strategy to combat proliferation,” John R. Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, told an audience in November, during the American Spectator Dinner in Washington, D.C. With this initiative, he said, the United States plans “to work with other concerned states to develop new methods to disrupt the proliferation trade at sea, in the air and on land.”

Cooperating with the United States on PSI, thus far, are Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom. In all, Bolton said, more than 50 countries have indicated support for PSI “and are ready to participate in interdiction efforts.”

The cooperation of other nations, he conceded, is important because the right to conduct maritime interdictions is restricted under international law. A country usually can board a ship in one of its own ports or territorial waters without permission. In international waters, however, a country can board a ship forcibly only if it flies that country’s flag, claims no nationality at all, or is suspected of piracy or carrying slaves. Thus, the United States is seeking as many countries as possible to participate in PSI, particularly key maritime states.

“PSI has been a fast-moving effort, reflecting the urgency attached to establishing a more coordinated and active basis to prevent proliferation,” Bolton said.

The Bush administration claims this initiative is necessary, as potential enemies seek to develop WMD. Saddam Hussein’s removal from power in Iraq has “unquestionably improved the international situation,” Bolton said. But “state sponsors of terrorism—such as Iran, North Korea, Syria and Libya—are aggressively working to acquire weapons of mass destruction and their missile delivery systems.”

To block these efforts, the United States and its allies will use diplomatic tactics whenever possible, Bolton said, but they “must be willing to deploy more robust techniques, such as the interdiction and seizure of illicit goods, the disruption of procurement networks, sanctions or other means.” No option, he warned, “is off the table.”

Properly planned and executed, “interception of critical technologies while en route can prevent hostile states and non-state actors from acquiring these dangerous capabilities,” Bolton said. “At a minimum, interdiction can lengthen the time that proliferators will need to acquire new weapons capabilities, increase the cost and demonstrate our resolve to combat proliferation.”

In September, the 11 PSI partners met in Paris and agreed on a set of principles laying out practical steps necessary to interdict shipments of WMD, delivery systems and related materials flowing to and from states and non-state actors of concern.

While participants agreed that North Korea and Iran are “states of particular proliferation concern,” PSI efforts are not aimed at any one country, but at halting worldwide trafficking in WMD, delivery systems and related materials,” Bolton said.

Participants agreed to hold a series of 10 sea, air and ground training exercises that would include both military and law enforcement assets. The first exercise—called Pacific Protector—took place in September in the Coral Sea. Led by Australia, Pacific Protector involved about 800 military and law enforcement personnel from around the globe.

Australia contributed a frigate, a customs vessel and surveillance aircraft. The United States provided the destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54), a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment and a cargo ship, the MV Pvt. Franklin J. Phillips (T-AK 3004). Also participating were a Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessel and a French maritime patrol aircraft.

Target Vessel
In this exercise, the Phillips—a.k.a. MV Tokyo Summer for this drill—served as the target vessel. The exercise began when the Japanese patrol vessel got word that Tokyo Summer was suspected of carrying WMD-related items. She was pursued, surrounded and ordered to stop.

A Japanese boarding team rappelled from helicopters onto the suspicious vessel, which was then searched for weapons, and the weapons were seized.

“This was a very rudimentary, very simple operation just to go through the numbers as to how—if we were asked by our governments—we could collaborate to do interdiction of shipping,” said Adm. Walter F. Doran, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

“We know how to do this,” Doran told a group of defense writers in Washington. “We’ve done maritime interdiction in the [Persian] Gulf for the last 12 years or so.

“But this is a different situation, because now you are on the high seas, the scope is larger and you are not dealing with smugglers breaking U.N. sanctions,” Doran said. “You could be dealing with a whole host of other things.”

The next event—Sanso 2003—was more complex. This 10-part exercise took place in October in the Mediterranean, with Spain taking the lead. The United States contributed the guided missile frigate USS Nicholas (FFG 47) and a P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft. Five other nations provided naval assets.

Sanso was patterned after a December 2002 operation in the Arabian Sea when elements of the Spanish Navy, with U.S. help, boarded a Yemen-bound ship carrying North Korean Scud missiles.

During Sanso, which lasted four days, vessels from several nations played the part of merchant ships suspected of carrying WMD-related materials. In a series of drills, the target ships were boarded and inspected by teams from other countries.

In one drill, the Nicholas acted as the target vessel. In another, the French Frigate FS Jacouvet did so. In yet another, two Spanish Navy auxiliary ships served as targets.

The commanding officer of the Nicholas, Cmdr. Chris Swallow, said in a statement that the exercise was “very successful,” proving the participants “are ready to execute joint interdiction operations at a moment’s notice.”

France was scheduled to lead the next maritime exercise in the Mediterranean in late November. Italy was to follow with an air-interdiction drill in December. Other exercises are planned for the months ahead.

U.S. experiences with maritime interdiction operations date to the Navy’s birth in Revolutionary War, when Capt. John Paul Jones conducted raids against British shipping. During the American Civil War, U.S. Navy MIOs played a major role in blockading Southern ports.

In recent times, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard—often in cooperation—have employed MIOs against smugglers of drugs, illegal migrants, contraband oil and terrorists.

Since 1980, the Coast Guard has interdicted an estimated 305,000 undocumented migrants headed from 62 countries toward the U.S. shoreline. In 2001 alone—the most recent year with available figures—the Coast Guard seized more than 135,000 pounds of cocaine, setting a maritime cocaine seizure record for the third consecutive year. Most of the drug interdictions took place in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern Pacific Ocean.

First Gulf War
On the far side of the world, in the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean, the United States and its allies have conducted MIOs for years. Since the first Persian Gulf War, 42,409 vessels have been queried, 2,917 have been boarded, and 2,299 have been diverted for further investigation, said a Navy spokesman.

The percentage of boardings picked up with the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2002, there were 4,995 queries, 2,917 boardings and 887 ships diverted. In 2003, at last count, there were 4,334 queries, 2,582 boardings and 427 ships diverted.

“These numbers represent MIOs in the Central Command Area of Responsibility only,” the spokesman added.

Before the invasions, U.S. and coalition MIOs focused on enforcing U.N. sanctions against Iraq’s smuggling of contraband goods, such as oil. In May, after the fall of Saddam’s regime, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1483, calling for U.S. and coalition forces to provide law enforcement and peacekeeping functions in Iraq until that country can fend for itself.

Under Resolution 1483, “all vessels entering or leaving Iraq are subject to inspection by coalition naval forces,” the spokesman explained. “If a vessel is carrying illegal oil or other prohibited cargo, [such as weapons and explosives], it will be detained and may be subject to confiscation under the Iraqi judicial process.”

U.S. and coalition forces in the Arabian Sea and nearby waters also are on the lookout for vessels carrying terrorists or weapons. “The purpose of these operations is to widen the net to capture Osama Bin Laden; members of al Qaeda, the Taliban and other terrorist groups, and their weapons,” the spokesman said.

To conduct MIOs, the United States can bring to bear a variety of maritime assets, including:

• U.S. carrier strike groups, consisting of aircraft carriers and their 75 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, cruisers, frigates, destroyers, submarines and support ships.
• Expeditionary strike groups, which are built around amphibious assault ships, rather than carriers. They embark a Marine expeditionary unit with 2,200 combat-ready Marines, their equipment and aircraft, both fixed-wing and helicopters.
• Coast Guard cutters, Navy coastal patrol ships and the Naval Special Warfare Command’s Mark V Special Operations Craft, which can deliver boarding teams quickly to suspect vessels.
• Land-based P-3C Orion and carrier-based S-3B Viking aircraft, which can provide long-range maritime surveillance.

Interdiction operations are considered sensitive, because some nations do not approve of the forcible boarding of merchant ships on the high seas, no matter what their cargo. Also, the Navy is not eager for enemies to learn details of U.S. tactics in such operations. For these reasons, Navy officials declined to talk about MIOs for the record. However, a Navy officer with MIO experience agreed to discuss the subject in general terms on a background basis.

The interdiction effort, he said, begins as soon as U.S. and allied commanders receive an intelligence report that a ship thought to be bearing weapons of mass destruction is leaving a foreign port. The vessel can be tracked, from the time it leaves port, by satellite, radar, aircraft, surface ship or submarine.

The ship can be intercepted at any time, by a single Navy vessel or squadron of them strung out in a long picket line to prevent escape. The ship can be queried by radio about its cargo and destination. If the responses are not satisfactory, the ship can be ordered: “Heave to, kill all engines and stand by for boarders.”

Navy boarding teams are trained in tactics known as visit, board, search and seizure. They learn how to embark and debark foreign vessels, to review documents and inspect the ship, its cargo and personnel. They are taught to identify and control threats and hazards, collect evidence and intelligence information, and manage medical emergencies.

Boarding teams often include members of Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachments, which are deployed on many Navy ships to help conduct MIOs. Under the Post Civil War-era Posse Comitatus Act, U.S. military personnel have limited powers to arrest civilians suspected of breaking the law. Because the Coast Guard is not part of the Defense Department and has law-enforcement responsibilities, LEDETs, as they are called, have full arrest powers.

If U.S. commanders suspect that a target vessel will resist boarding, they have the option of dispatching a team from one of the Navy’s Sea, Air and Land (SEAL) commando units or a Marine Corps Maritime Special Purpose Force. An MSPF is a part of every deployed MEU.

SEAL and MSPF teams train to fast rope from helicopters to the deck of a foreign ship, engage hostile forces and gain control of the vessel. During the entire operation, the helicopters—with snipers aboard—hover overhead, providing cover.

Once the foreign ship is brought under control and searched, if contraband is found, the vessel can be ordered to a friendly port, where its cargo can be impounded and the crew interrogated and, if warranted, arrested.

The Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Vern Clark would like to see more nations help in conducting such searches. Speaking in October to navy and coast guard leaders from 75 countries at the 16th International Seapower Symposium in Newport, R.I., Clark called for “a worldwide coalition of military and law enforcement organizations” to police the world’s oceans.

“This coalition would share information to track shipping around the world to end the illegal exploitation of our sea lines of communication and stop terrorism at its root,” Clark said.

It is imperative to protect the world’s sea lanes, Clark said. “Thirty percent of the world’s economy depends on trade. [A total of] 99.7 percent of all intercontinental trade travels by sea, carried by [more than] 46,000 vessels, servicing nearly 4,000 ports.”

Attacks against these shipments are on the rise. “During the first half of [2003], there was a record of 234 reported attacks against seafarers,” Clark said. “This was the worst six-month period since the International Maritime Bureau started compiling piracy statistics in 1991, and a full 34 percent increase over the same period last year.”

Piracy is a form of terrorism, Clark said. “It’s clear that we, as leaders of the navies and coast guards of the world, have the shared responsibility to keep our oceans free from terror and allow our nations to prosper.”

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has been carrying out maritime interdictions in the eastern Mediterranean for more than a decade, is sharpening its focus on such operations. The NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, which was established in last year’s reorganization, is planning a Maritime Interdiction Operations Training Center, to be located in Greece.

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