Could Al Qaeda Take Control of a Warship?

Usually the death of a reporter in Pakistan wouldn't constitute news for this audience, but this is an usual story about the death of a reporter. Here is the Reuters report on the death of Saleem Shahzad.

Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan representative for Human Rights Watch, said Shahzad had told him that he was under threat by Pakistan's military intelligence agency.

"He told me he was being followed and that he is getting threatening telephone calls and that he is under intelligence surveillance," he told Reuters.

"We can't say for sure who has killed Saleem Shahzad. But what we can say for sure is that Saleem Shahzad was under serious threat from the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) and Human Rights watch has every reason to believe that that threat was credible."

Why would the ISI take out a reporter in Pakistan? Probably because his last report was an eye-popping backgrounder on the PNS Mehran attack that reveals the Pakistan Navy has been thoroughly infiltrated by Al Qaeda.

I highly recommend everyone reads the entire report by Saleem Shahzad to consider why he may have been killed, and what this means in relation to the Pakistani Navy. The report is supposedly one of two, but it is unclear if the second article was written before Saleem Shahzad was murdered.

The report raises very serious questions, like how deep the penetration actually goes when it is clear that Al Qaeda has already broadly infiltrated the Pakistani Navy including apparently at high enough ranks of the Pakistani Navy to be aware of very sensitive, secret information like where specific highly sensitive prisoners are being held.

Is it possible that Al Qaeda could take control of a warship, like PNS Alamgir (ex-USS McInerney (FFG-8)) or other warships that frequently operate near warships of other navies? Keep in mind that even the old Perry's being sold are armed well enough to cause considerable damage. The Pakistani Navy has consistently been a serious partner supporting various missions in the region like anti-piracy off Somalia, and Pakistan Navy ships can approach highly sensitive sea infrastructure throughout the Middle East much easier and without the same scrutiny of other vessels.