Setting record straight on Maersk Alabama
Washington Notebook
By Eric Kulisch
When I reported a few days ago that the Maersk Alabama fended off a skiff of pirates rapidly approach its stern under cover of night, I quickly received an e-mail from someone at Maersk who wanted to make clear some details of the event.
The Maersk Alabama, you'll recall, is an American-flagged vessel delivering U.S. and international food aid to ports in East Africa. In April 2009 it was commandeered by pirates who removed Capt. Richard Phillips and held him in a lifeboat for several days while negotiating with the U.S. Navy at the scene. Navy sharpshooters eventually shot dead three of the Somali pirates and rescued Phillips.
Fast forward to May 17. I got a tip from outside the company that the vessel's crew scared off some pirates in the Gulf of Aden. And a Danish newspaper was reporting the encounter on its Web site. (Denmark is the headquarters of Maersk Line, the parent company of the Norfolk, Va.-based firm that operates the vessel.)
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Evading pirates is not remarkable from a news standpoint — it happens all the time. What made this story interesting is that it involved the Maersk Alabama — which already has a well-publicized history with pirate attacks — and the fact that armed guards were involved.
The shipping industry, including Maersk, for a long time was reluctant to put armed riders on vessels to protect them from pirates out of concern that any threat of violence could escalate a situation, potentially jeopardizing vessel and crew. That thinking has changed and many shipping companies operating in that region of the world now employ protective services.
After confirming the incident with two sources, I reported that the Maersk Alabama's security team fired warning shots in the air to drive off the pirates. That was also the official line given by Maersk in a statement to the Danish paper.
But the Maersk contact wanted to make sure I knew that those shots weren't just aimlessly fired into the night sky for effect. No sir! The security team knew where it wanted to send those bullets and that was right into the speedboat 30 meters away.
| Washington Notebook archives • Debating driver vs. pilot fatigue (5/16) • CBP honors Litman for career of service (5/9) |
'I can assure you if the two shots fired ' were in the air, the shots were not airborne long as they were aimed and landed in the center of the skiff,' the e-mail said. 'The pirates were taken care of.'
I'm betting that if two shots landed in the middle of a small, motorized skiff someone on board got hurt — or worse.
And it appears that the Maersk Alabama had a similar encounter back on March 9.
The vessel's security team also fired warning shots in that incident, which the EU Naval Force said was classified as a suspicious approach rather than an attack, according to an Associated Press report.
'The captain followed the appropriate protocol and authorized an embarked security team to fire warning shots in order for the pirates to turn away,' Maersk said in a statement carried by CNN on its Web site.
Some shipping industry sources say they classify attacks and probing activity differently, although many lump the two together as 'attacks.' An attack, in their mind, only occurs when there is gunfire or other overt attempts to take over a vessel.
Something is going on here. Maersk appears to be downplaying to the public and military task forces in the area the response of its private guards, while someone else within the organization wants to let the pirates know not to mess with the vessel or else face the prospect of being on the receiving end of some hot lead.
Maersk's stance may have something to do with liability issues. Vessel operators don't want to be slapped with lawsuits charging they recklessly fired on fishermen or others not engaged in pirate activity.
Catch-and-release policy 'useless'
It's a common practice for international naval forces operating to protect merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean to catch suspected pirates and then release them because they can't find a nation willing to prosecute.
African nations in the region often don't have the resources or legal systems to efficiently try and imprison large numbers of Somali pirates. Other countries don't want to take responsibility when hijackings don't involve vessels under their flag, their own nationals held hostage or a domestic ship owner. Still others don't believe they have enough evidence to convict pirates or feel their laws don't adequately cover piracy situations.
But everyone, including international government officials, agrees that catch-and-release doesn't work.
Catch-and-release also was a bad policy on the U.S. Southwest border. The Department of Homeland Security for many years apprehended tens of thousands of non-Mexican nationals that illegally entered the country, but only removed a small portion of them from the United States. The rest were released, often on their own recognizance, until their scheduled immigration hearings because there was no space to hold them.
(Mexicans, by contrast, are almost immediately repatriated, but nations from other countries are entitled to a hearing with an immigration judge before deportation.)
In 2009, DHS began to reverse the policy by expanding holding areas and expediting the process for returning nations to their countries. Catch-and-release undermined the government's effort to gain control of the border and implement immigration reforms.
The U.S. military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has also caught and released insurgents trying to kill them because officials don't believe evidence against them will hold up in court. But troops say that it's impossible to hold terrain when insurgents know they'll be released if their captured.
Events to watch
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| Bersin |
' U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin will address the trade community at the opening of the American Association of Exporters and Importers 90th annual conference in New York on June 6, at 9:30 a.m.
Bersin originally wasn't part of the agenda, even though he had expressed interest in speaking to the delegates. He spoke there last year and the Department of Homeland Security was already well represented by Secretary Janet Napolitano, the luncheon keynote speaker the following day. But when a top industry representative dropped out because of another commitment, Bersin jumped at the chance to continue his outreach effort to the cross-border trade industry. He has made face-to-face meetings with industry representatives a staple of his administration as he tries to demonstrate that he takes seriously their concerns about bureaucratic burdens on business.
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| Napolitano |
' Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is traveling to India May 24-27 to discuss counterterrorism, law enforcement and supply chain security partnerships with government and private sector officials. During her visit she and Home Minister P. Chidambaram will launch the U.S.-India Homeland Security dialogue to increase communication and information-sharing between the U.S. and India on counterterrorism and other security-related issues. The regular series of meetings will also highlight protecting the global supply chain, combating illicit financing and enhancing cybersecurity.
' The 20th Congress of Latin American Ports will take place in Lima, Peru, June 22-24. Peru Minister of Transportation and Communication Enrique Cornejo, and his counterpart in the Port Secretariat of Brazil's presidential office, Jos' Leonidas de Menezes Cristino, will each describe his country's policies regarding investment in port infrastructure and development. The event is organized by Peru's national ports group, ENAPU S.A., in conjunction with the American Association of Port Authorities. Port executives from the Western Hemisphere are expected to attend.
' Eric Kulisch