Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.
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Spotlight on Piracy After Maersk Alabama These early efforts laid the groundwork for an unprecedented whole-of-nation response to piracy. Immediately follow- ing the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, government and the military agen- cies engaged in numerous discussions through the maritime operational threat response process. This process leveraged an existing program used extensively for counter-drug and migrant interdiction operations and expanded it to include virtually all maritime threats. On April 8, 2009, the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama was boarded by pirates off the coast of Somalia. This attack thrust the subject of modern piracy into American living rooms. Well before then, agencies and departments of the U.S. government were working diligently on various aspects of the threat of piracy: ♗ The Maritime Administration, working under the Department of Transportation, was advocating for the security of the U.S. merchant fleet by issuing warnings to mariners, including a warning sent just one day before the Maersk Alabama attack. ♗ The Coast Guard, working under the Department of Homeland Security, was addressing law enforcement and regulatory issues for the safety and security of mariners; and, in April 2008, issued guidelines for U.S. vessels operating in high-risk waters. ♗ The Department of Defense was focused on naval operations, including international efforts to stop pirates, by creating a combined task force to counter piracy. ♗ The Department of State was working through international organizations and governments to develop diplomatic consensus on what governments should do about piracy. Predetermined participants have used the maritime operational threat response process to discuss and weigh options to develop courses of action to address threats within the maritime environ- ment. Interagency Coordination The Maersk Alabama ZDV WKH ÀUVW 8 6 ÁDJJHG FRPPHUFLDO YHVVHO WR EH WDNHQ E\ pirates in recent history, but the attack on the Liberty Sun on April 15, 2008 proved this was not going to be an isolated inci- dent.1 ♗ The Department of Justice worked with international entities to provide guidance on case presentation and prosecution. The Coast Guard answered to this inci- dent by hosting an Interagency Piracy Coordination Meeting, later called the Coast Guard Maritime Security Coor- dination Call, with representatives IURP WKH 'HSDUWPHQW RI 6WDWH 2IÀFH RI the Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Office of Naval Intelligence, Department of Jus- tice, Department of Commerce, Military Sealift Command, Customs and Border Protection, and Global Maritime Situ- ational Awareness to discuss and agree upon means to make U.S. ships and crews more secure. Representatives from these agencies met three times a week. 36 Proceedings Spring 2012 www.uscg.mil/proceedings