Sea terrorists could slip through net

The Australian ^ | April 20, 2005 | Elizabeth Colman

[Bald Eagle777]

AN Australian port could be attacked or a ferry hijacked by terrorists to transport weapons of mass destruction, because of gaps in the maritime border security net.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has found a lack of awareness from states and the federal Government about the specific threats posed from the sea.

"A determined and expert terrorist is still likely to have little difficulty in entering Australia by sea, and will probably only be defeated by advance intelligence of his movements," the institute says in a report titled Future unknown: the terrorist threat to Australian maritime security.

"We have high dependence on shipping and seaborne trade, and are adjacent to a region where terrorist groups have maritime capabilities. Australia still faces major institutional and operational challenges in reducing the risks of maritime terrorism," the report says. A "weak link in the chain" is the "low standard of seafarer identification", it says, revealing that 113 foreign seafarers "jumped ship" in three years.

The report recommends better state-commonwealth co-operation and an injection of $100million in federal funds.

"There's a relatively high level of aviation awareness in Australia, but this isn't so with maritime awareness.

"While airports are basically similar, every seaport is different. Australia faces major challenges in reducing the risks of maritime terrorism ... We haven't met these challenges fully, and we lack consistency in the response across states and territories."

"High-risk" ferries and cruise liners or a US navy ship stationed in an Australian port are vulnerable to a direct attack with "maximum impact". Container terminals and oil, gas or chemical port facilities are also potential targets. Another "credible scenario" is "the use of a ship, its cargo or a sea container for terrorist purposes to transport terrorists or terrorist material, including a possible weapon of mass destruction". A ship could also be hijacked to use as a weapon.

The report acknowledges a rise in federal government spending on maritime security, with projects last year to tighten port screening. "(But) so far few, if any, additional resources have been provided for the prevention and response elements of maritime security in ports or close to shore," it says.

A spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson said it was unlikely the Government would adopt the recommendations. "These reports are always good to look at and we do take them seriously ... we're continuing to look for any holes that might emerge in our maritime security net."

[Bald Eagle777]

Interesting. This threat scenario is not just limited to Australia. Taiwan, US, etc

[Calpernia]

ping

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping

[nw_arizona_granny]

T.M. saw the danger almost 2 years ago, what does it take to get the rest of the world to pay attention?

It has not been that long since the the pirates in that area took over a ship and the prize was the Scuba teacher, the
pirates wanted diving instructions.

I wonder how easy it is to spot a small submarine?

Those tiny 2 to 4 men subs, just might get past the average sonar.......

Maybe the Chieftain will know the answer on the personal submarines. Are they going to be caught on a radar or sonar
screen?

I gave up long ago on digging for the dead scuba divers, the
reports are out there in the Coast Guard diaries, I found
more than one dead diver, who did not show any connection to land, no boat, no car on shore, no report as missing, only the dead body, by reading Search and Rescue Logs in other
areas of the world.

[Calpernia]

>>>>T.M. saw the danger almost 2 years ago, what does it take to get the rest of the world to pay attention?

That was one of the fights about T.M. This is why I suggested bump threads. The way everyone posts news in one big thread, it ruins the purpose of FR. Now, all those articles that are posted in all of the threads, they don't pull with the FR Keyword searchs or topic searches. The info is basically useless.

This is why no media or bloggers picked up and paid attention to what was posted.

[Velveeta]

bump

[nw_arizona_granny]

If only we had followed your advise, how very useful it would be.

There must be some way to pull them, but I don't have that good of luck with searches that do not start in Google.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Cindy, do you have the Piracy report?

Has there been activity in the Australia/Indonesia area.

OK, I admit it, I am hopelessly behind on my reading.

Thanks for any help.

[Velveeta]

There's always activity in the Indonesia area. ;-)

Here's the link for the piracy report:
http://www.icc-ccs.org/prc/piracyreport.php

[Cindy]

Hi Granny
Here's the link:

ICCWBO.ORG: THE WEEKLY PIRACY REPORT
http://www.iccwbo.org/ccs/imb_piracy/weekly_piracy_report.asp

[Cindy]

Velveeta beat me to it!

[nw_arizona_granny]

Hi Granny
Here's the link:

ICCWBO.ORG: THE WEEKLY PIRACY REPORT
http://www.iccwbo.org/ccs/imb_piracy/weekly_piracy_report.asp
-----

Thank you!

I knew you would have it.

[Cindy]

You're welcome.

You take good care of yourself and have
a good day today...ongoing prayers.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Tahnks for the link, looks like a busy month for the pirates.

I forwarded yahoo mail to you with more scuba in them.

[Cold Heart]

BTTT

[Bald Eagle777]

G.A.T.E. / GWOT ping