America’s high-tech war on pirates, episode II

First, we learned that the U.S. is using drones to survey pirates off the coast of Somalia. Next big thing in the fight on piracy? Chat rooms. Keeping up their reputation for packing the latest and greatest high-tech pirate-fighting gear, U.S. forces and their European allies are sprearheading a computer-based coordination system meant to allign ...

By , International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Colombia.

First, we learned that the U.S. is using drones to survey pirates off the coast of Somalia. Next big thing in the fight on piracy? Chat rooms.

First, we learned that the U.S. is using drones to survey pirates off the coast of Somalia. Next big thing in the fight on piracy? Chat rooms.

Keeping up their reputation for packing the latest and greatest high-tech pirate-fighting gear, U.S. forces and their European allies are sprearheading a computer-based coordination system meant to allign the efforts of an entire coalition of navies working in the region. Instant messages (not all that different from your Gchat dispatches) convey the positions of pirate-fighting ships, reports of incidents and threats, and incoming intelligence. So popular are the coordination systems that even Chinese and independent and vessels are signing on.

Something the coalition is doing seems to be working; pirates’ boat seizures have fallen noticeably from their peak last fall. Still, the anti-piracy push is not out of the woods. Bad weather so far this year is one explanation for the slowdown, the AP reports. Asian countries seem to recognize this and have dug in their heels. Japan sent its first vessels this week, and China announced that its 800-soldier anti-piracy mission was in for the long haul

Of course, real military success on the high seas will depend heavily on the situation on land in Somalia. No instant gratification there (or instant messaging for that matter), but as FP found out in Seven Questions this week, at least there’s a squint of hope… 

In the long meantime, the Navy will be online.

Elizabeth Dickinson is International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Colombia.

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