Countering Piracy Ashore - A Step in the Right Direction‏

Late last year, I argued that in order to truly impact Somali pirates, we needed to spend less energy on the pirates themselves and target their key network nodes and facilitators ashore. In January, VADM Fox similary advocated focus on the pirates' networks. Yesterday, the FBI announced that they are doing just that.

The arrest of Mohammad Shibin is a significant breakthrough in the United States’ battle against Somali pirates,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “Today marks the first time that the U.S. government has captured and charged an alleged pirate in a leadership role—a hostage negotiator who operated in Somalia. We hope that this indictment will strike at the heart of the piracy business and send a strong message to all pirates that they are not beyond the reach of the FBI, whether they board the ships or remain on-shore in Somalia.

Rolling up a single facilitator is clearly a positive step, but we shouldn't expect major disruptive effects anytime soon unless faciltiators are neutralized faster than they can reconstitute. That said, additional efforts to dismantle the pirates’ logistical and financial network ashore will prove significantly more effective (both operationally, and cost-wise) than CMF's futile interdiction operations in the Indian Ocean.

The opinions and views expressed in this post are those of the author alone and are presented in his personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of U.S. Department of Defense, the US Navy, or any other agency.