It “ . . . swims with the fishes”
Fences and checkpoints are the methods of choice for controlling illegal immigration and drug smuggling into the United States. Their effectiveness along the Canadian and Mexican borders is often a subject of debate, but they certainly are more manageable than our coastal borders.
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks exploited security vulnerabilities in commercial air travel. While attention has been given to mitigating security vulnerabilities in air and rail travel, the maritime threat posed by small vessels is deserving of a more critical examination. This threat is not limited to the use of small vessels to attack large passenger vessels (such as cruise ships or ferries), military vessels or critical infrastructure (such as bridges and landmarks). In fact, federal agencies are confident that the Washington State ferry system was under surveillance by terrorists or associates as a potential target in 2004. Small vessels have the potential to be used as a means of illegal immigration for terrorists and for the transport of weapons of mass destruction.
The vulnerability of California’s coastline to terrorist infiltration or attack has been exposed by the relative ease with which Mexican cartels smuggle contraband or human cargo into the United States. Drug smuggling and human trafficking along California’s coastline may not be an immediate and pressing homeland security threat, but it does expose a security weakness that may provide an attack vector for terrorists. While some countermeasures are currently in place, additional steps could be taken by federal, state and local law enforcement, military and customs officials to disrupt this movement of illicit goods and undocumented immigrants, and possibly reduce our exposure to a terrorist attack.
Maritime Smuggling Vessels
Panga boats are fishing vessels commonly used in Mexico and throughout South America. While these vessels are not intended for long-range excursions, they have become one of the vessels of choice of drug and human traffickers operating in Mexico. South American drug traffickers also utilize towed array devices and torpedoes to transport illicit drugs. These containers are towed under or behind fishing vessels or pleasure craft. Remote controlled submersibles have also been constructed and their use as drug transport vessels, as far as is definitively known, has been attempted with little success.
Ocean Drone
Ocean data services company Liquid Robotics and Boeing Corporation are partnering to expand Liquid Robotics’ autonomous ocean-going drones, within a year, from monitoring Great White sharks to maritime traffic monitoring, among other things. The implications for criminal and homeland security interdiction are promising. The drones are expected to have and to generate enough energy for several months of deployment. A large-scale deployment could create a virtual net along borders with Canada and Mexico and along California’s littoral waters.
With a camera, listening device and satellite communications, there are numerous potential homeland security applications. Vessels with a particular sound signature can be ignored (i.e., known shipping vessels, registered boats with an active transponder on board, Coast Guard vessels, etc.). Vessels equipped with high-power outboard motors and no transponder — like most common panga boat configuration — can be photographed or videotaped for closer analysis before committing assets to intercept it at sea.
A Value-Added Solution
Successful interdiction of panga and other smuggling vessels usually occurs when the vessel is spotted by the Coast Guard or a civilian boater, through intelligence gathered by law enforcement and Customs officials, when the craft becomes disabled in open waters, or when the craft is spotted from land as it is beached. This is increasingly difficult as the smugglers move further up the coastline. Panga boats operators have been dropping off their illicit cargo from San Diego to Santa Cruz. Spotting a single panga boat on the open ocean is a labor intensive and expensive proposition for the Coast Guard and Navy. The use of drone technology can significantly drive down the cost of interdiction and has the potential to improve the odds of detection and apprehension.
