Maritime Interdiction Operations Research Articles

Estudios de ignorancia, inteligencia y la guerra contra las drogas en Colombia/ Ignorance studies, intelligence and the war on drugs in Colombia

Resumen
 Los enormes recursos invertidos en la inteligencia en la guerra contra las drogas han permitido a las agencias estatales acumular un importante conocimiento sobre el actuar de las redes internacionales del narcotráfico. La inteligencia juega un papel central en la planeación y conducción de operaciones de interdicción marítima. La utilización de la inteligencia en este tipo de operaciones tiene, sin embargo, limitaciones; y no menos importante, la interpretación y reinterpretación que se hace de los resultados. Propongo que los estudios de ignorancia pueden servir para explicar estos resultados paradójicos, así como el rol y los límites de la inteligencia en la guerra contra las drogas. En este artículo se reflexiona sobre las posibilidades de los estudios de ignorancia para entender las diferentes interpretaciones del uso de la inteligencia y los resultados de esta. El presente análisis se basa en una serie de entrevistas realizadas a miembros de la Armada en diversas partes del país.
 
 Abstract
 The enormous resources invested in intelligence in the war on drugs have allowed state agencies to accumulate a valuable knowledge about the actions of international drug trafficking networks. Intelligence plays a central role in planning and conducting maritime interdiction operations. The use of intelligence in this type of operations, however, has limitations, not least the interpretation and reinterpretation of the results. I propose that studies of ignorance can serve to explain these paradoxical results, as well as the role and limits of intelligence in the war on drugs. In this article, we reflect on the possibilities of ignorance studies to understand the different interpretations of the use of intelligence and the results of this. The present analysis was based on a series of interviews with members of the Navy in various regions of the country.

The eye and the fist: Optimizing search and interdiction

Interdiction operations involving search, identification, and interception of suspected objects are of great interest and high operational importance to military and naval forces as well as nation’s coast guards and border patrols. The interdiction scenario discussed in this paper includes an area of interest with multiple neutral and hostile objects moving through this area, and an interdiction force, consisting of an airborne sensor and an intercepting surface vessel or ground vehicle, whose objectives are to search, identify, track, and intercept hostile objects within a given time frame. The main contributions of this paper are addressing both airborne sensor and surface vessel simultaneously, developing a stochastic dynamic-programming model for optimizing their employment, and deriving operational insight. In addition, the search and identification process of the airborne sensor addresses both physical (appearance) and behavioral (movement pattern) signatures of a potentially hostile object. As the model is computationally intractable for real-world scenarios, we propose a simple heuristic policy, which is shown, using a bounding technique, to be quite effective. Based on a numerical case study of maritime interdiction operations, which includes several representative scenarios, we show that the expected number of intercepted hostile objects, following the heuristic decision policy, is at least 60% of the number of hostile objects intercepted following an optimal decision policy.

An exploratory study of workflow support for tactical teams

Tactical teams need tools to support their collaboration and help coordinate their workflow. We developed the concept of workflow coordinating representations (WCRs) to provide a common workspace and coordination space. Two questions are whether there are general good design properties for WCRs, and whether there are limits to the types of tasks to which these properties can be applied successfully. Experiment 1 examined a range of design properties within a well-structured team task: collecting and analyzing biometric data during a maritime interdiction operation. Naive participants performed the biometrics task and then rated the designs. A detailed WCR design that well matched the workflow of the task was rated more highly than other designs. Experiment 2 applied the detailed design to an ill-structured team task: planning a military rescue mission. There was a WCR for organizing the capabilities of each available asset and another WCR for laying out a detailed timeline of events. Simple maps of the mi...

Effect of Wind Chill on Wire Ladder Climbing and Running Performance

Maritime Interdiction (MI) operations may require Special Forces personnel, in open high-speed boats (OHSB) to chase and board large ships using wire ladders followed by an assault involving running and jumping. We have previously demonstrated a reduction of 40% in running performance following a 3-hour OHSB transit in the cold (ambient temperature (tamb) -2.5°C; air speed (v) 17.9 m·s-1; wind chill index (WCI) 1435 W·m-2; chilling temperature (tch) -23°C). It is unclear if the same level of performance degradation would have occurred if personnel had been sheltered from the high airflow. PURPOSE: To quantify the effect of high airflow in cold ambient conditions on ladder climbing and run performance. METHODS: Twelve men (age 21 ± 1 y; height 182 ± 6 cm; nude mass 78 ± 2 kg) completed a familiarization session and then in a crossover design, two 60-min cold (tamb 0°C) environmental chamber exposures (CON, v 0.04 m·s-1; WCI 479 W·m-2; tch 14°C; WIND, v 3.6 m·s-1; WCI 986 W·m-2; tch -5°C) followed by a timed 14 m wire ladder climb and an incremental 10 m shuttle run to exhaustion, wearing a standardized clothing ensemble (thermal base-layer, coveralls, specialist MI boots) with additional thermal protection (hands, head, face) during the exposures. Core temperature (tcore) was recorded continuously and thermal comfort ratings ((TC) global, face, hands, feet) every 10 min. RESULTS: Ladder climb times increased (CON, 43 ± 6 s; WIND, 46 ± 8 s, 11%; p<0.01) and distance run decreased (CON, 1003 ± 108 m; WIND, 891 ± 109 m, 7%; p<0.05) following the WIND exposure compared to CON. In both conditions tcore was maintained, but WIND reported lower global TC ratings (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Ladder climbing and shuttle running require strength, endurance and neuromuscular coordination all of which appear to be degraded by cold exposure and more so with a high airflow. The lower global TC ratings reported in the WIND condition suggest localized muscle cooling may be a cause of this degradation. The ladder climb has been identified as a key MI mission failure point, therefore the performance degradation observed for this and subsequent shuttle running, following exposure to a high airflow and WCI may have a serious operational impact. It is recommended that the provision of airflow protection for personnel during the MI insertion phase be addressed.

The Mavi Marmara Incident and Blockade in Armed Conflict

This article examines Israel's enforcement of a maritime blockade against the Gaza Strip implemented in the course of an ‘armed conflict’ with Hamas. The first question is the legal characterisation of this conflict and whether it is one to which the laws of naval warfare apply. The conclusion of this article is that, irrespective of the status of the Gaza Strip as an occupied territory, at the relevant time Israel was at best involved in a non-international armed conflict (NIAC) with Hamas. There is only limited support for the proposition that blockade is available in NIACs, and then only in conflicts reaching a high level of intensity. On this basis, Israel had no applicable right of blockade. In the alternative, the article considers the requirements of lawful blockade and concludes they were not met in the present case. The central issue is proportionality. The maritime blockade was part of a comprehensive closure regime that had disproportionate effects on the civilian population of Gaza. A maritime blockade in support of other measures causing disproportionate damage must itself be disproportionate. In the further alternative, the article assesses whether Israel could have justified its actions on the basis of other belligerent rights. Finally, the article considers the law governing the use of force during maritime interdiction operations under the laws of naval warfare. It concludes that a ‘policing’ paradigm of force is applicable. The law of individual self-defence and war crimes is also considered.

'Fortress Europe' and FRONTEX: Within or Without International Law?

AbstractIt is true that the problem of interception of human beings on the high seas is more acute than ever, not only in terms of the number of vessels intercepted but also in terms of the variety of legal issues that it raises. The most worrisome observation, however, is that while interception of human beings has been practiced for centuries, currently the pendulum has swung from interception to free and save lives, for example, in the context of chattel slavery, to interception to prevent people from entering developed States and claiming a better future. This is particularly reflected in the practice of EU Member States, which have taken many initiatives in the maritime domain to strengthen the external borders of 'fortress' Europe. Lately, this practice is coordinated by a European Agency, commonly referred to as FRONTEX, which was established in 2004 in order to "coordinate the operational cooperation between Member States in the field of external borders management". To this end, FRONTEX has launched a number of maritime interdiction operations carried out on the high seas and even further, i.e. in the territorial seas of States of departure or transit, such as Mauritania, Senegal, Cape Verde. The purpose of this article is to address the most important questions that these maritime operations of FRONTEX raise, analysing them through the lens of the law of the sea and other rules of corpus juris gentium. Accordingly, in the first part there will be a thorough discussion of the pertinent legal bases of the interception operations on the high seas and in the territorial waters, while in the second the analysis will focus more on the relevance of other international rules like the use of force or the principle of non-refoulement to the present context. The application of the latter principle appears to be especially problematic in the majority of these operations since it is very likely that the persons onboard the intercepted vessels would be forced to return to their countries of origin, where they may be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.

Patterns of Team Collaboration Employed to Solve Unique Problems

“Macrocognition” is an emerging area of knowledge engineering that focuses on understanding how cognition emerges in natural environments. One goal for studying macrocognition is to understand the complexity entailed in inter- and intra-individual cognition. In this paper we describe our analysis of several complex team collaboration tasks: firefighters from the Fire Department of New York on Sept. 11, 2001, air warfare teams on an Aegis ship, and the team collaboration entailed in conducting Maritime Interdiction Operations. Team communications that transpired during three complex problem solving situations were analyzed to understand how teams collaborate to create new knowledge and decide on a course of action during complex, one-of-a-kind problems. These processes include (1) individual knowledge building, (2) developing knowledge interoperability, (3) team shared understanding, and (4) team consensus. The way the team's cognitive behavior maps to the model is discussed along with differences in patterns of collaboration for different decision-making domains.

Evaluating a Model of Team Collaboration via Analysis of Team Communications

A model of team collaboration was developed that emphasizes the macro-cognitive processes entailed in collaboration and includes major processes that underlie this type of communication: (1) individual knowledge building, (2) developing knowledge inter-operability, (3) team shared understanding, and (4) developing team consensus. This paper describes research conducted to empirically validate this model. Team communications that transpired during two complex problem solving situations were coded using cognitive process definitions included in the model. Data was analyzed for three teams that conducted a Maritime Interdiction Operation (MIO) and four teams that engaged in air-warfare scenarios. MIO scenarios involve a boarding team that boards a suspect ship to search for contraband cargo (e.g. explosives, machinery) and possible terrorist suspects. Air-warfare scenarios involve identifying air contacts in the combat information center of an Aegis ship. The way the teams' behavior on the two scenarios maps to the model of team collaboration is discussed.