Maritime terrorist act imminent, experts warn

ASia Pacific Port Focus ^ | Feb. 20, 2004 | Australia News

[FairOpinion]

A British Intelligence group has joined, visiting UN and Australian experts warning that world ports and shipping are vulnerable to a major terrorist attack

AL-QAEDA and its associates could be planning a "maritime spectacular," Dominick Donald of Aegis Research and Intelligence told a London security conference this week.

"If a boat that didn't cost $1,000 managed to devastate an oil tanker of that magnitude, imagine the extent of the danger that threatens the West's commercial lifeline, which is petroleum," he said.

Donald was referring to concerns raised since the attack on the oil tanker VLCC Limburg.

Addressing delegates at the Intermodal Petroleum Transportation event, Donald warned that the maritime sector was an obvious and easy target.

"Maritime attacks can deliver results, as 90 per cent of world trade moves by sea and maritime traffic has a number of vulnerable choke points [such as the pirate infested] Malacca Straits, Bab-el-Mandab and the Suez and Panama Canals".

Both the tanker and the cruise sectors are "iconic and economic", Donald said.

Meanwhile former Australian transport minister Peter Morris, who nows heads the International Commission on Shipping (ICONS), has also raised the alarm that shipping could be used as a weapon of mass destruction on Australian cities.

"Any one of the thousands of foreign ships which dock each year in Australian ports, particularly Sydney, has the potential to become a weapon of mass destruction," said Mr Morris.

"The ships themselves may be the weapon," he said. "They can carry enough innocent-looking cargo - fertiliser and diesel fuel - to become the biggest bomb ever detonated in an Australian capital city or major port in war or peace."

Mr Morris said the United States, the world's largest trading nation and a prime target for terrorists, has already acknowledged the danger.

"But Australia is making itself more vulnerable than most countries by suppressing Australian shipping in favour of foreign shipping and relying almost totally on offshore-registered ships where the real owners or operators of freighters, tankers, and bulk carriers are easily concealed."

Most ships calling in Australian ports are registered in countries like Liberia and Panama, which fail to even make a pretence of knowing the real ownership of those ships.

A recent bipartisan review of Australian shipping conducted by Mr Morris and the former Minister for Transport in the Howard government, John Sharp, warned that there was conflict between the Federal Government's two aims of cheap shipping and the simultaneous strengthening of our border protection.

Mr Morris insists the Howard Government maritime security legislation last year failed to establish procedures to protect Australian ports.

Maritime security concerns have been also raised by visiting United Nations IMO official Efthimios Mitropoulos.

The secretary general of the International Maritime Organisation told a Melbourne conference yesterday that the prospect of terrorists hijacking a large ship and exploding it in a major Australian port was a "real and present" danger.

[yonif]

We should be securing our trains better. Security still lapses on this transporation. In addition, we need to racial profile individuals.

[AdmSmith]

Most ships calling in Australian ports are registered in countries like Liberia and Panama, which fail to even make a pretence of knowing the real ownership of those ships.

Expect more strict regulations for flag states and that port states (and insurance companies) demand transparency about ownership etc on the vessels in a few years time.

[AdmSmith]

... like this

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N12546646.htm
U.S., Liberia sign ship interdiction agreement

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The United States and Liberia have signed a ship interdiction agreement in support of a treaty that aims to prevent the movement of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons around the world, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday.

The agreement, signed on Wednesday, authorized the boarding of sea vessels suspected of carrying unlawful shipments of weapons of mass destruction, delivery systems or related materials, the department said.

"Liberia has the world's second largest ship registry and this agreement sends a strong signal to proliferators that the United States and Liberia will not allow the use of their vessels for the transport or transfer of items of proliferation concern," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

The U.S.-Liberia agreement supports the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), launched last May by President George W. Bush.

The PSI treaty is aimed at halting the flow of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons-related materials and missiles bound for states viewed with distrust in Washington, like North Korea and Iran.

U.S. officials say it has already had successes, including the seizure last October of a Libyan-bound ship carrying nuclear centrifuge equipment that helped persuade Tripoli to give up its nuclear ambitions.

Participating countries have also held multinational exercises that have provided experience in interdiction and intelligence sharing for their militaries, U.S. officials say.

[My Dog Likes Me]

I think that eventually the national discussion over terrorism will have to address the issue of Muslim visitations to our country. I don't care if the guy is a doctor in Riyadh who wants to take his kids to Disneyland, or a kid in Cairo who wants to secure a student visa for college...or flight school, in the United States, Homeland Security should just shut them off now, before another disaster.

Until we find a way to barcode the "good Muslims," we simply shouldn't allow these irrational people into our country. Unless they are diplomatic personnel, with ankle bracelets.

I'm sorry if my comments offend anyone, but the rash of Muslim traitors in the military was my tipping point. And I am offended by the government view that "another attack is inevitable..." No, it isn't. Just stop them ALL at the border and turn them around.

I once stood on the observation deck of the WTC. It was high. Very high. I can't fathom jumping off of it.

Rant over - sorry.

[TomGuy]

Keep in mind the ferry that rammed in NYC last year.

With intent behind it, a ship, travelling at full speed, could do alot of damage ramming into a significant port. If filled with explosive for inflammable cargo, it could create massive destruction and deaths.

[Chris Talk]

I'm with you. I think the proper response to 9/11 would have been to seal the borders and expel all foreign Muslims.

If that didn't work, then expel the domestic ones too.

And not inconvenience the innocent American people with this foolishness at airports.

[George W. Bush]

Yawn.

More hysteria about completely obvious threats.

Just like our open southern border. Or the uncontrolled Great Lakes entry points.

[painter]

Clive Cussler wrote a book "Valhalla Rising" in it the bad guys where going to detonate a large LNG tanker carring Propane in New York harbor close to where the WTC stood.In the book they said the fire ball could be as much as 2miles wide!

In the book Cussler's' hero Dirk Pitt and his side kick Al Goirdino saved the day.

I'm not going to say how you might want to read the book.If any of you like action adventure books Clive Cussler's are great.I have them all.

[wita]

A necessary rant to be sure. I was astounded years ago, that there were people in this country, some of whom had made fortunes, by virtue of the freedom and opportunity, here and were yet willing to change their given names, a slap in the face to all those who sacrificed to provide that name and all it meant, and join a religion or way of life counter to everything that America stood for.

I still don't get it, don't want to, and desire that all so afflicted are, identified, given opportunity to recant their stupidity, incarcerated, shipped out of the country to a place more to their liking. All or any part of the preceding their choice. See I am pro-choice.

Sorry if I offend but it has come to that point. We know who they are and all the compassionate rhetoric will do nothing, but delay the inevitable. Somehow it needs to be made abundantly clear who the enemy is. I see nothing to dissuade me that I have not recognized them already. All the above being said, I recognize the position as being untenable in todays world.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Make M2's mandantory on all ships over 200 feet long. At least two plus two more for every 100 feet in length.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Gee, I guess there's a reason for the Coast Guard having a large budget increase and these guys are patrolling our ports:

[FairOpinion]

Great pictures! Thanks.

[Library Lady]

I agree. Cussler's books are great, but I would like to help him edit sometimes. He doesn't always remember what he said in a previous book and then changes his story to fit the current one. For example, Summer and Dirk are his children by Summer Moran, but that would have to have been an emaculate conception because in Pacific Vortex, there was no hanky-panky.

[SAMWolf]

Not sure how far up the Mississippi the larger ships go, but it could screw up river traffic if they pulled it off.

[SAMWolf]

I'm even more concerned about the "Home Grown" converts like the guy the just arrested at Fort Lewis or the one who fragged his Officiers at the start of the war or the one at Gitmo who was helping the prisoners there..

The new "converts" seem to be a threat too. And they're already here and are "us"

[SAMWolf]

I've seen his books but never read any of them. I know he's a popular author though and covers Maritime stories.

[Bobby777]

planes, aircraft, buses, buildings, sports stadiums, oil refineries, nuclear power plants, port cities ...

all this protection and panic because of one group ...

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Between the threat of terrorism and the prevalence of viral diseases, I'm not inclined to go on any cruise ships.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

You should be working as a strategist for the Dept. of Homeland Security. Seriously. I'm sure they could use people who think like you do.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

BTW, welcome to the forum. (By your profile, I see you're relatively new to these parts! :-) I like you too.