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U.S.; Allies Seek Right to Board Ships
in WMD Search
As part of their effort to stop shipments of dangerous weapons
and related goods in transit, the United States and its allies are
now asking other countries to sign agreements allowing their vessels
to be stopped and searched.
A senior Department of State official said Dec. 17 that the new
pacts would be modeled upon existing boarding agreements for countering
illegal drug trade. Washington expects to begin signing the new
agreements in 2004.
Securing such agreements with key flag states for international
shipping is a priority, a senior Department of Defense official
explained Dec 18.
Flag states are those countries that permit a foreign-owned ship
to operate under their national flag. Shipowners may register under
a flag different from their home country because it accords them
cheaper costs or more lax operating rules. Panama and Liberia are
two of the world’s leading flag states, accounting for some
6,000 registered ocean-going vessels. Ships lacking a flag can be
stopped without provocation.
The two senior U.S. officials outlined the new strategy following
a Washington-hosted, Dec. 16-17 meeting of participants involved
in the interdiction effort, formally known as the Proliferation
Security Initiative (PSI). Both officials briefed reporters on the
condition of not being identified.
The December meeting marked the first time experts from Canada,
Denmark, Norway, Singapore, and Turkey were involved. They joined
representatives from the core group of 10 countries originally enlisted
in the initiative by the United States—Australia, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the
United Kingdom.
U.S. and foreign government officials describe PSI as an activity
that is open to all countries wanting to contribute to the overall
mission. Some 50 governments have reportedly endorsed the initiative’s
principles calling upon countries to stop suspicious shipments traveling
through their national territories and not to transport weapons
of mass destruction (WMD) themselves.
At the Washington meeting, military and intelligence experts discussed
lessons learned from previous exercises and operations and prepped
for future practice and real-world interdictions. PSI participants
aim to carry out short-notice search and seizures at sea, on land,
and in the air.
The Pentagon official listed the Mediterranean Sea, the Pacific
Ocean, and the Indian Ocean/Arabian Sea as the key regions where
PSI participants are preparing to operate because that is where
the most proliferation activity is taking place. The senior State
Department official said earlier that a lot of WMD trafficking flows
out of the former Soviet Union through Europe.
Washington is planning a mid-January practice interdiction of a
ship carrying a mock WMD cargo in the Arabian Sea. Four exercises
have already been held, and several more involving various air,
land, and sea scenarios are set for the first half of 2004.
In addition to improving the PSI participants’ ability to work
together, the exercises are designed to give a public face to the
initiative and force proliferators to reconsider the wisdom of plying
their weapons and materials.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, addressing the Washington
meeting, declared “interdiction can deter suppliers and customers
by making proliferation more difficult and more costly and in some
cases more embarrassing.” National security adviser Condoleezza
Rice also spoke to the experts gathering.
The senior Pentagon official said that PSI had successfully deterred
some proliferation activity. The official declined to explain this
assertion further.
U.S. officials also claim that the initiative has resulted in actual
interdictions of dangerous cargo, including centrifuge parts to
Libya, which Dec. 19 unexpectedly renounced weapons of mass destruction
(see page 29). The administration has declined to provide specifics
on any other interdictions, citing concerns that undue publicity
could compromise future operations.
It remains unclear what role the interdiction played in Libya’s
recent decision. A senior U.S. intelligence official told reporters
the interdiction, which occurred in October 2003, was not the precipitating
event because U.S.-British talks with Libya had started several
months earlier. State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli said
Dec. 31 that one could argue that the interdiction, which he described
as a “significant and important development,” had some
affect on Libya’s move, but noted that drawing any definitive
conclusion on causality was “hard.”
The interdiction of dangerous weapons did not begin with PSI. The
United States and other countries have carried out many past interdictions,
including the seizure of missile shipments to Libya, before President
George W. Bush launched the initiative May 31, 2003.
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