NATO's "Active Endeavor" Operation Safeguards the Mediterranean
07 November 2006
Joint naval patrols build effective counterterrorism expertise, new partnerships
Washington -- Moroccan intelligence officials catch wind of a terrorist plot to hijack a ship in the Mediterranean for use in an attack. After they alert their European and North American counterparts, a desperate race against time begins.
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies feverishly comb shipping records while international naval and air patrols blanket the region. The Spanish navy initiates security escorts for international shipping through the Straits of Gibraltar.
When an erratically navigated freighter attracts the attention of a joint Italian, Greek and Turkish patrol, teams of British and Russian sailors are deployed to intercept the ship. Hailing the vessel, they capture the terrorists and save countless lives.
It may have the makings of a hit action movie, but the scenario typifies a training exercise for the participants of NATO’s “Operation Active Endeavor,” an ongoing naval patrol of the Mediterranean by the alliance and its regional partners monitoring maritime activity to help detect, deter and respond to terrorism and other transnational threats.
Approximately 30 percent of the world’s maritime traffic and 65 percent of the oil and gas consumed in Western Europe pass through the Mediterranean, making the region a key strategic zone and a potentially attractive terrorist target. NATO forces have enhanced regional security under Active Endeavor, monitoring more than 81,000 ships, boarding 102 and providing escorts to 488 others. In addition, alliance ships have acted in several instances to rescue dozens of civilians from damaged oil platforms and sinking ships.
MARITIME PATROLS ENHANCING REGIONAL SECURITY
Although often associated with land-based operations, NATO’s activities extend across the strategic spectrum. In the 1990s, NATO used joint patrols to enforce the international arms embargo imposed by the United Nations on the warring parties of the former Republic of Yugoslavia.
The more recent mission began in the Mediterranean after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. On October 26, 2001, the alliance activated Article 5, NATO’s collective defense provision, for the first time in its history.
NATO’s Allied Forces Maritime Command initiated joint patrols of the eastern Mediterranean on October 26, 2001, directed from Naples, Italy, by Italian Navy Vice Admiral Roberto Cesaretti. NATO’s standing naval forces in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, its ships, submarines and aircraft contributed from across the alliance’s 26 member countries, alternating lead responsibility for Active Endeavor every three months.
As the mission has progressed, alliance members have reviewed and expanded its operational mandate. In 2003, Active Endeavor began offering escorts to the 3,000 ships passing daily through the Straits of Gibraltar. Later that year, NATO also approved procedures for its units to board vessels, in full cooperation with ship captains, in accordance with international maritime law.
In 2004, the alliance expanded Active Endeavor’s mandate from its eastern focus to cover the entire Mediterranean Sea and expanded efforts to gather and analyze intelligence on regional shipping in an effort to better target potentially suspicious vessels.
NATO’S MARITIME PATROLS BUILDING NEW PARTNERSHIPS
As the operation has progressed, NATO further strengthened its relationships with countries across the region, particularly with members of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. Together, they work to share information about regional maritime traffic, giving all members a clearer picture of vessels operating in their territorial waters.
Georgia and Albania, members of NATO’s Partnership for Peace, also have entered into talks with the alliance to find ways to support the mission, while Russia and Ukraine both finalized agreements with NATO to support Active Endeavor, with members of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet joining the mission in February 2006.
NATO’s experiences and new partnerships developed under Active Endeavor have strengthened the alliance while providing a significant boost to the Mediterranean region’s security and economic development. The interdiction expertise and working relationships gained by all participating countries also can be applied to other transnational security threats, such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Many countries contributing naval forces to the NATO-led mission also are participants in the Proliferation Security Initiative, an effort launched by President Bush in 2003 to halt the illicit flow of prohibited weapons and related technologies. (See related article.)
A briefing on Operation Active Endeavor is available from the NATO Web site.
For more information, see The United States and NATO.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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