As you are probably aware, the Middle East is in turmoil, the Arab Spring has sprung and failed and IS continue their march. Not only the IS but affiliates in other countries continue to grow and align themselves with them.
With the IS in Libya and taking control of a number of coastal towns, terrorism on the high seas in the Med looms large.
For years now we have seen how lucrative piracy (The polite term for maritime terrorism) has been for Somali terrorists capturing commercial cargo vessels and crew, especially around the Horn of Africa and how ineffectual the authorities have been to stop it.
Ponder on this. Somali maritime terrorists who are Muslim and pirating because they cannot fish, because this is the only way they can make money?
So where does this money go, building their communities, better housing, better clothes, cars, bigger and faster boats, hey we have millions let's party? Well maybe not.
Some goes into their coffers yes but most goes to fund another Islamic terrorist army Al-Shabaab who have been contacted by IS, will they also bend their knee and serve the Islamic State? that though is for another blog post.
Well back to the Med, the playground of the rich and famous and of course their floating luxury palaces. Let me give you some perspective on distances.
This is just a rough guideline as it all depends on where you start off from on the Libyan Coast.
Libya to Greece 541 nautical miles
Libya to Italy 315 nautical miles
Somali maritime terrorists operate over 400 nautical miles from their coastline, well into international waters albeit with the use of mother craft from which they launch their attack boats.
This will not have been lost on the IS and here we need to look at three distinct reasons as to why an attack on a luxury vessel will happen. The means, the motive and the opportunity.
THE MEANS
Do they have the capability to attack vessels? At the present time possibly not, not far out into the Med anyway, but with their (IS) current wealth estimated at $2 Billion, weapon and vehicle procurement as we have seen on shore does not seem to be a problem. So shortly we will see fast craft and larger vessels being used to threaten those on the high seas and neighbouring countries.
THE MOTIVE
Not for profit.
Capture and use as a landing platform to launch either suicide attacks by a unit of terrorists or as a VBIED Vehicle Born Improvised Explosive Device.
Both delivered into the heart of two worlds, the world of the rich and famous and the world of the holiday maker.
Superyachts with anything from a crew of 10 upwards. High net worth owners on board plus wealthy guests and cruise liners with hundreds of passengers and crew.
We have seen the horror when journalists, aid workers and certain ethnic towns people are executed. How much more would it shock the West to have their rich and famous idols or ordinary tourists executed on masse in the same way?
And here is the problem, these vessels are largely unprotected. I have worked in the med for the last two decades, anywhere from one to three months per year on Superyachts and only had two instances of attempted boarding. That is going to change for the worse.
With the IS in Libya and taking control of a number of coastal towns, terrorism on the high seas in the Med looms large.
For years now we have seen how lucrative piracy (The polite term for maritime terrorism) has been for Somali terrorists capturing commercial cargo vessels and crew, especially around the Horn of Africa and how ineffectual the authorities have been to stop it.
Ponder on this. Somali maritime terrorists who are Muslim and pirating because they cannot fish, because this is the only way they can make money?
So where does this money go, building their communities, better housing, better clothes, cars, bigger and faster boats, hey we have millions let's party? Well maybe not.
Some goes into their coffers yes but most goes to fund another Islamic terrorist army Al-Shabaab who have been contacted by IS, will they also bend their knee and serve the Islamic State? that though is for another blog post.
Well back to the Med, the playground of the rich and famous and of course their floating luxury palaces. Let me give you some perspective on distances.
This is just a rough guideline as it all depends on where you start off from on the Libyan Coast.
Libya to Greece 541 nautical miles
Libya to Italy 315 nautical miles
Somali maritime terrorists operate over 400 nautical miles from their coastline, well into international waters albeit with the use of mother craft from which they launch their attack boats.
This will not have been lost on the IS and here we need to look at three distinct reasons as to why an attack on a luxury vessel will happen. The means, the motive and the opportunity.
THE MEANS
Do they have the capability to attack vessels? At the present time possibly not, not far out into the Med anyway, but with their (IS) current wealth estimated at $2 Billion, weapon and vehicle procurement as we have seen on shore does not seem to be a problem. So shortly we will see fast craft and larger vessels being used to threaten those on the high seas and neighbouring countries.
THE MOTIVE
Not for profit.
Capture and use as a landing platform to launch either suicide attacks by a unit of terrorists or as a VBIED Vehicle Born Improvised Explosive Device.
Both delivered into the heart of two worlds, the world of the rich and famous and the world of the holiday maker.
Superyachts with anything from a crew of 10 upwards. High net worth owners on board plus wealthy guests and cruise liners with hundreds of passengers and crew.
We have seen the horror when journalists, aid workers and certain ethnic towns people are executed. How much more would it shock the West to have their rich and famous idols or ordinary tourists executed on masse in the same way?
And here is the problem, these vessels are largely unprotected. I have worked in the med for the last two decades, anywhere from one to three months per year on Superyachts and only had two instances of attempted boarding. That is going to change for the worse.
So the motive is great. A Trojan horse delivered into the belly of the corrupt West.
OPPORTUNITY
The opportunity to capture any amount of these vessels is unlimited due to the amount of vessels in this location. But it will only happen on a few occasions and those occasions it will have to be momentous.
Look at the the size of the Med, it's not big compared to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean so patrolling it should be no problem, which country that falls down to though is the problem. Italy do not have the capability, they are waiting for the UN to step in with the refugee boat people problem.
So let's look at the security of these vessels. For a start, compared to cargo vessels they are low in the water; whether sailing or at anchor. Most of these wealthy people do not have security as they either do not think there is a threat against them or they are playing the numbers game and in reality I would not know most of the people who own these vessels anyway. But the vessel itself is the attraction.
I have seen pictures from security companies advertising Yacht security whereby razor wire and large searchlights have been used to advertise their security procedures. Never seen it in real
Life mind you. Yep I'm wealthy, I'm going to buy a multi-million pound pleasure craft and turn it into a prisoner of war camp, not likely. Commercial Cargo vessel target hardening does not go down well on these vessels.
The crew (House staff), now we as security professionals don't usually rely on house staff to man the barricades at our principals estate or home but here we do, and unless you train the crew for certain actions then you are on to a loser. Whilst they are or should be trained in the fire fighting, man overboard, abandon ship routines, as well as their personal duties, having a Close Protection team on board brings added duties that they will not be happy with and you will have to contend with.
Like most land based security, the superyacht fraternity is no different when it comes to the feel good factor, which most maritime security companies exploit. Yes I've seen the deck plans for searching (By untrained crew), the crew based security options, do nothing, barricade yourself in on the bridge or engine room, whilst your boat is ransacked, robbed or taken over, yep the owner is really going to like that! The security exercises against untrained crew members, the ridiculous questions asked by security company personnel trying to gain information. Great money earning exercises. Though all to no avail as when the report comes through, it won't mean anything to the crew and less to the owner, I've seen those reports and have conversed with ships captains.
It will happen and the worst part is that until it does nothing will change for the majority of vessel owners.
Are you a vessel owner, captain or first officer, is your security plan actionable or just kept in the draw on the bridge?
Are you, your crew or security team aware of the threats they face?
Do you work close protection or security on your clients vessel, is its security up to spec, do you know how to bring it up to spec, are you aware if the threats you face?
OPPORTUNITY
The opportunity to capture any amount of these vessels is unlimited due to the amount of vessels in this location. But it will only happen on a few occasions and those occasions it will have to be momentous.
Look at the the size of the Med, it's not big compared to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean so patrolling it should be no problem, which country that falls down to though is the problem. Italy do not have the capability, they are waiting for the UN to step in with the refugee boat people problem.
So let's look at the security of these vessels. For a start, compared to cargo vessels they are low in the water; whether sailing or at anchor. Most of these wealthy people do not have security as they either do not think there is a threat against them or they are playing the numbers game and in reality I would not know most of the people who own these vessels anyway. But the vessel itself is the attraction.
I have seen pictures from security companies advertising Yacht security whereby razor wire and large searchlights have been used to advertise their security procedures. Never seen it in real
Life mind you. Yep I'm wealthy, I'm going to buy a multi-million pound pleasure craft and turn it into a prisoner of war camp, not likely. Commercial Cargo vessel target hardening does not go down well on these vessels.
The crew (House staff), now we as security professionals don't usually rely on house staff to man the barricades at our principals estate or home but here we do, and unless you train the crew for certain actions then you are on to a loser. Whilst they are or should be trained in the fire fighting, man overboard, abandon ship routines, as well as their personal duties, having a Close Protection team on board brings added duties that they will not be happy with and you will have to contend with.
Like most land based security, the superyacht fraternity is no different when it comes to the feel good factor, which most maritime security companies exploit. Yes I've seen the deck plans for searching (By untrained crew), the crew based security options, do nothing, barricade yourself in on the bridge or engine room, whilst your boat is ransacked, robbed or taken over, yep the owner is really going to like that! The security exercises against untrained crew members, the ridiculous questions asked by security company personnel trying to gain information. Great money earning exercises. Though all to no avail as when the report comes through, it won't mean anything to the crew and less to the owner, I've seen those reports and have conversed with ships captains.
It will happen and the worst part is that until it does nothing will change for the majority of vessel owners.
Are you a vessel owner, captain or first officer, is your security plan actionable or just kept in the draw on the bridge?
Are you, your crew or security team aware of the threats they face?
Do you work close protection or security on your clients vessel, is its security up to spec, do you know how to bring it up to spec, are you aware if the threats you face?
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