U.S. Maritime Surveillance Strategies
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U.S. Maritime Surveillance Strategies
The Maritime surveillance strategies are turning to automation as technology is consistently growing. Most of the companies that manage the transportation of goods through vessels and ships in the oceans aim at maximizing profits. Thus there are increasing levels of shipboard automation and systems integration. However, automation increases the threats and issues facing port security. There has been a significant increase in maritime terrorism, sea robbery, cargo theft, and drug and currency smuggling. However, these issues could be dealt with by having the automation come hand in hand with the manual systems. The Naval bases having untraceable technology to deal with the crisis could also be used to increase safety.
Growing Threats
Maritime terrorism is one of the issues that have come along with automation. Cases of terrorism have increased since the remote monitoring, and remote navigational systems can be manipulated remotely. In an experiment done by the Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics students at the University of Texas, the students highjacked a yacht worth $80 million with a GPS spoofing gear worth only $3000. This is clear proof that terrorists, with access to such technology, could highjack ships that are carrying chemical or biological weapons and use them to cause terrorist attacks on any desired location.
Cases of sea robbery and cargo theft have also increased due to automation in the industry. In the traditional shipment through water vessels, high jacking of ships was done by pirate ships, and they could easily be fought off by the Navy. However, the current technology requires the thieves to have a good understanding of technology. The GPS on a ship is used to synchronize the clock on the phasor measurement unit (PMU). A slight power outage or malfunction of the PMU could cause catastrophic effects like major power outages to generator explosions. PMU reliance on synchronized timing could be easily manipulated by malicious actors, easing the chances of robbery and theft.
Other than the negative effects that come as a result of automation failure, its success also causes a risk like currency and drug trafficking. The ship-tracking satellites are meant to locate every ship that is on the sea. The Navy, however, uses a technology that is undetectable to most satellites. With access to this kind of technology, many corrupt officials and drug traffickers could coordinate the loading of drugs or currency in one port. Delivery could be done in a designated location without the Navy realizing this. U.S. Navy aircraft, for example, has been associated with cases of drug trafficking. Just recently, Machinist’s Mate Nuclear 2nd Class Ethan D. Strandberg and Andrew W. Miller pleaded guilty to the distribution of ecstasy and hallucinogenic drug LSD, respectively, in Japan. This is a clear indication that both drugs and currency can be easily distributed due to upcoming technology.
Potential countermeasures
Having both an automated system and a traditional system for navigation could be a very convenient countermeasure. In an early case of The Grounding of the Royal Majesty, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) independent sensors were used to sense depth and of the see. However, it caused the ship to the ground after the cable connecting the GPS antenna to the unit on the bridge got cut. The ship could no longer detect the exact depth of the location since it depended on water speed and gyro compass measurements. The automated system is economical, but there should be a captain on board with a map based on current technology and independent from the ship’s technology. The captain should be able to detect the slightest change in the course of the ship. This way, the captain could switch off the autopilot technology and connect with the port for reconfiguration.
The U.S. Navy should also have undetectable technology to guard the sea. The case of drug trafficking by members of the Navy is something rare, although it happened in Japan. The technology is quite useful in patrolling the sea. They could do random searches without getting identified and even investigate suspicious docks unnoticed. They could pin trackers to suspicious vessels and keep a remote watch on them, thereby understanding the drugs supply chain without blowing their cover. They could also help with random and fast requests by identifying locations where sea accidents could easily happen and keeping watch from a distance. This can reduce cases of sea terrorism and increase dependence on sea transport.
Conclusion
The growing maritime threats brought about by advances in technology could be handled through having both an automated system and a traditional system for navigation and using undetectable technology by the Navy. Among the threats that have increased due to marine technology’s automation are maritime terrorism, sea robbery, cargo theft, and drug and currency smuggling. Tampering with the GPS of a vessel is the most common form of exploitation of maritime technology. If they could have systems that support automated and manual techniques, high jacking could be prevented as soon as it begins. The Navy could also play a significant role in fighting these threats by having unidentifiable technology for surveillance.