Pirates of the Future. This post isn’t about Johnny Depp
The international anti-piracy campaign has been a success but still lives
In the Middle East, according to a 2022 internal naval briefing, the piracy-related threat is currently at the LOW level, with the threat of future attacks “unlikely.” In fact, the number of piracy-related attacks have been zero for the past three years. “No events does not mean no threat,” the briefing nevertheless warns – “risk of false safety.”
This long live the King moment made me think about perpetual war and military activity in the Middle East, whether we will ever wean ourselves from the old, particularly in a part of the world where the Iranian threat is one of four organizing tenets of the post-9/11 military. Given that the number of attacks is zero, was there a success in the war against piracy, something that should be celebrated? Or is the military bureaucracy just trying to hold on, attempting to retain old forces and operations while not focusing on what’s coming in the future? Ultimately this is a good news story even if the military is cynical and self-interested.
Just a week after 9/11, the Navy suggested a maritime interdiction force for the Middle East, one that would chase al Qaeda at sea. The Navy went to work, followed by an international military organization that stood up in February 2002 as Combined Task Force (CTF 150), focused on countering the illegal movement of weapons and people. By 2006, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom had all contributed ships and aircraft to the task force. CTF 150 had a broad remit, covering the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea (Persian Gulf), and the Red Sea. Though al Qaeda was the ultimate target, the focus soon enough shifted to Somali piracy incidents, most of which were occurring within 200 nautical miles of the coast. The pirates harassed shipping and conducted crimes at sea, mostly against coastal vessels.
In June 2007, the era of modern-day piracy began off the coast of Somalia when pirates hijacked the Danish owned cargo ship M/V Danica White and its crew of five. The hijacked ship was followed by the USS Carter Hall (LSD-50), which fired warning shots at the Danish ship, destroying three small pirate boats towed behind it. But soon, the U.S. Navy ship had to retreat because the hijacked vessel reentered Somali controlled waters. The pirates held the Danica White and its crew at ransom for 83 days. The Danish government finally paid about $1.5 million to the pirates, a pay-off that did not sit well with Washington.
Attacks significantly increased off the Horn of Africa in 2007, but CTF 150 was hampered in its work. Different countries involved in the combined force had different policies and rules of engagement. After the Danica White incident, moreover, Somali pirates expanded their operating range to up to 1,200 nautical miles.
In January 2009, Combined Task Force 151 was stood up, a specific anti-piracy force of like-minded nations. “Some navies in our [CTF 150] coalition did not have the authority to conduct counter-piracy missions,” said Vice Admiral William E. Gortney. “The establishment of 151 will allow those nations to operate under the auspices of CTF 150, while allowing other nations to join CTF 151 to support our goal of deterring, disrupting and eventually bringing to justice the maritime criminals involved in piracy events,” he said.
Three months later, CTF-151 had its first major test. On April 7, 2009, the M/V Maersk Alabama container ship was hijacked 250 nautical miles off the Somali coast. The ship's master, Captain Richard Phillips, was taken off the ship and held hostage in a lifeboat. Vice Admiral Michelle Howard, the CTF-151 commander at the time, was operating aboard the USS Boxer (LHD-4) and oversaw the operation to release Phillips and the ships. Five days after the hijacking a SEAL team operating off of the destroyer USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) carried out a rescue. The incident left three pirates killed. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called the rescue "textbook" but acknowledged the ongoing issue of piracy in the region.
By 2013, the number of piracy incidents around the Horn of Africa had diminished, though the Navy shifted some of its attention to the Gulf of Guinea (off west coast Africa) and Southeast Asia, where piracy was an increasing concern. The number of reported incidents decreased 22 percent from 2018-2020. Between 2013-2020, according to the Office of Naval Intelligence, there were 3,115 incidents of piracy and armed robbery at sea, or an average of about one incident a day. Fifteen percent were hijackings or kidnappings, the remaining 85 percent were attampted boardings, attacks, and robberies.
By August 2020, the Office of Naval Intelligence’s Weekly Piracy Update was discontinued, reporting on piracy incorporated into an expanded Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report.
Piracy in other parts of the world are generally on the increase. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander Pacific Fleet, said on August 24, 2022 “Over the past decade, the Indo-Pacific has faced emerging maritime crime from non-state actors. 40% of piracy occurs in Southeast Asian waters. In the Bay of Bengal criminal gangs prey on fishermen through armed robbery and kidnappings at sea. In Southeast Asia thefts from vessels transiting the Straits of Malacca are on the rise and the Sulu Sea is confronted with a string of piracy and kidnap for ransom incidents.”
Though the U.S. Navy is involved in countering piracy and building naval coalitions, Southeast Asia counter-piracy is more of a local game. The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP), launched in November 2006 is made up of 14 Asian and 21 international partners, from Norway to Australia. (Two maritime International Fusion Centers in Singapore and Delhi also have activated to increase the sharing of information. But even here, the number is decling. ReCAPP reports that there have been 78 piracy-related incidents through December 1 (there were 83 in 2021, 97 in 2020). The most concentrated area is now the Straits of Malacca and Singapore with a total of 51 incidents reported since January 2022.
For the U.S. Navy, piracy is part of its history. The First Barbary War, one of America’s first overseas military ventures conducted under President Thomas Jefferson, sought to suppress pirate attacks on merchant ships off the coast of what is present day Libya and Tunisia. The counter-piracy campaign, now less focused on terrorist groups and more on crime, has been a success, a testament to international military cooperation.
Still, U.S. Navy interest in piracy-related crime is likely to decrease in the coming years. Admiral Samuel Paparo says that illegal fishing has now repplace piracy as the leading global maritime security threat. “Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a pervasive, far-reaching security threat,” he says.