A Critical Vulnerability, A Valid Threat. U.S. Ports and Terrorist Mining
Abstract
Sea mines have been a nuisance in the maritime domain since their debut during the Revolutionary War to their most recent use in Operation Iraqi Freedom. An indiscriminate weapon, mines inflict fear and uncertainty in maritime powers and can successfully deny an adversary access to the high seas. It is the effects produced from the employment of mines which make them attractive to the terrorist. Fear, uncertainty, insecurity and the removal of freedom, all make mines a weapon of choice for the terrorist. For these reasons, it is worthy of assessing our capability to protect and defend against this specialized threat. This paper will outline the economic and strategic significance of the U.S. Maritime Transportation System (MTS) and identify the shortfalls in current capabilities to defend the MTS from terrorist mining. The effectiveness of mines to deny access and achieve strategic goals will be presented using historical examples. More recently, indications that Osama bin Laden has acquired the capability to use mines, and that he has the desire to target our economy will be provided to support the urgency and the significance of the threat. The mission of mine countermeasures will be addressed as a contributor to the overall problem due to the difficulty of the mission. This will be reinforced by a general comparison of the recent mine countermeasures effort in Iraq to the suspected level of effort required to clear a U.S. port of mines. This comparison will demonstrate how the lack of a mine countermeasures capability by the Coast Guard to deter the employment of, or, when deterrence fails, to clear mines from harbors coupled with the consolidation of Navy assets in one port, thereby increasing response time, are the primary factors which dramatically increase the economic and strategic impact of a terrorist mining incident.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 13, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA436598
Entities
People
- Michael E. Sparks
Organizations
- National Defense University