The growing threat of piracy

East African pirates expanded their range deep into the Indian Ocean and now attack ships at the entrances to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. Pirates now operate across the sea lanes where 70 percent of the world’s petroleum traffic must pass.

Their ransoms are up 36 times — from $150,000 to $5.4 million per ship. According to the Kenyan government, up to 30 percent of ransoms are paid to East African al Qaeda and al Shabaab, who run the largest terror training camps on earth. We can no longer ignore the economic and national security threats that this brand of piracy poses to the United States. 

The War on Terror has not ended with the killing of Osama bin Laden. We must now shift our focus to defeating terrorist training cells, such as Somalia’s al Shabaab and Yemen’s al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, that are funded in part by the ransoms paid to pirates.

The terrorists who train at these camps learn tactics that allow them to execute small-scale Mumbai style attacks. In the post-bin Laden fight against terrorism, cutting off funding to isolated terrorist camps is the next battle we must win.

With much of the world’s petroleum supply coming out of the Persian Gulf, pirates have the capability of doing major damage to Western economies by taking energy supplies hostage. It is well known to our enemies around the world that our economic stability depends upon oil shipments. This fact, coupled with the potential for extremely high ransom payments make western-bound oil tankers a perfect target for pirates. In April 2011, the highest ransom ever paid, $11 million, was given to pirates who captured the Irene, an oil tanker bound for Houston.

We must heed the lessons of the Jefferson administration to respond to the pirates who continue to prey on vessels in the Indian Ocean. Defeating the pirates will take a comprehensive approach and decisive leadership. The United States and her allies have the capabilities to achieve this mission. Key policies that would assist American and Allied navies in ending piracy include: 

– Banning ransom payments that support the expansion of pirate operations and fund terrorist organizations.

– Blockading the three primary pirate ports and shorelines, which would prevent pirates from taking to the open ocean while expanding the rules of engagement for local naval commanders, and would give us an immediate upper hand over the pirates. 

– Providing assistance to local communities who oppose pirate rule.

– Rewarding frontline Somali communities with economic assistance if they confront or convert al Shabaab or pirate-controlled areas while also expanding prisons in Puntland (Somalia) and Kenya to incarcerate captured pirates. 

– Providing military assistance to Somali forces that regain control of pirate-controlled areas so that once under local control, the territory does not fall back into pirate hands. 

These are the types of decisive actions the Jefferson administration would recognize. When it comes to the economic stability and security of the United States, we should recognize the current policy has failed — moving from five to almost 500 hostages. The aggressive actions taken by pirates against American and allied shipping demand a swift response. A strategy of community assistance combined with military authority will turn the tide of piracy.