PT. MUGU, CA – We have security systems in airports, courthouses and even in some shopping centers, but the world’s coastlines are some of the least protected parts of the world. At least 90 percent of all commerce must move through coastal waters. About three-quarters of the world’s population lives close to a shore. But many of the world’s governments leave this commerce and these people largely unprotected.
On Sept. 23 and 24, the Center for Asymmetric Warfare will welcome dozens of national and international experts to what is being called the Littoral Dominance Center of Excellence Roundtable. For two days, the experts will take important steps in securing our coastal waters. They will attempt to define the subjective issue of “securing our maritime borders” as an objective problem, “what resources are required to increase our littoral interceptions to 85 percent of all interception missions”.
The Center for Asymmetric Warfare is housed on Naval Base Ventura County. Its executive director and founder is Dr. David Banks of Santa Paula, Ca. It is affiliated with the Naval Post-graduate School. CAW conducts extensive assessment, testing and training for government agencies and private businesses who want to be prepared for “an asymmetric event.” That can be anything from a natural disaster to a terrorist attack.
CAW is now establishing the Littoral Dominance Center of Excellence. This center will focus particularly on researching, testing concepts and teaching government agencies and independent companies how to protect their waters. Craig Powell of Thousand Oaks, a former Navy SEAL and manager of the Littoral Dominance Center, said, “We (all countries other than Singapore) have insignificant resources such as sniffing ships, off shore TSA-like screener or a response force to give the minimal capacity to interdict the movement of illicit contraband in coastal waters.”
And yet, Powell said the world is filled with examples of where the failure to control coastlines is wreaking havoc. Pirates boarded a cruise ship off the coast of Somalia in November 2005 and robbed tourists on vacation. Pirate consistently attack commercial ships navigating the Straits of Malacca, the shipping cannel linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Throughout the world there is a steady movement of illegal contraband from immigrants, protected animals, plants, minerals (blood diamonds), natural resources, diseases to technology, weapons, funds, asylum seekers, terrorist.
Representatives are expected from the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Department of Justice and the United States Coast Guard. In addition, the nations of Singapore and Canada, among others, are expected to send representatives.