Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Outsourcing defense: The Indian Ocean case

So I was idly reading the Copenhagen Post (Hans Christian Anderson’s favorite newspaper!) and saw the Maesrk shipping company has hired a Tanzanian warship and some soldiers to  defend its merchant vessels in the area. Does this mean the shipping companies have come to believe that the naval task force assembled by Western task forces ...

MARCEL MOCHET/AFP/Getty Images
MARCEL MOCHET/AFP/Getty Images
MARCEL MOCHET/AFP/Getty Images

So I was idly reading the Copenhagen Post (Hans Christian Anderson's favorite newspaper!) and saw the Maesrk shipping company has hired a Tanzanian warship and some soldiers to  defend its merchant vessels in the area.

So I was idly reading the Copenhagen Post (Hans Christian Anderson’s favorite newspaper!) and saw the Maesrk shipping company has hired a Tanzanian warship and some soldiers to  defend its merchant vessels in the area.

Does this mean the shipping companies have come to believe that the naval task force assembled by Western task forces isn’t providing sufficient security and deterrence? If I were the CNO I’d be worried by this. 

(HT to HC the Sun King)

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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