MINES AND UNDERWATER IEDS IN U.S. PORTS AND WATERWAYS

Abroad spectrum of nontraditional and asymmetric threats challenges U.S. maritime homeland security.1 The smuggling of drugs, arms, and people; vesselborne improvised explosive devices, like that used by terrorists against the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole in October 2002; proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-explosive weapons of mass destruction and disruption; piracy and organized crime; overexploitation of marine resources and the destruction of marine habitats; environmental attacks and trade disruption; political and religious extremism; mass migration flows; global health threats (e.g., the spread of infectious diseases like SARS and avian flu)-all these and more pose far-reaching dangers for American security interests at home and abroad. While small devices might have no more than nuisance value, as a way to exacerbate anxieties (Boston's reaction to "guerrilla marketing" in early 2007 comes to mind), larger mines can be placed surreptitiously in channels and harbors to achieve spectacular effects-against, for example, the Staten Island Ferry, crammed with 2,500 commuters during an evening rush hour, or a cruise ship with four thousand vacationers and crew on board leaving Miami or Seattle.8 The tragedy of hundreds of bodies floating in a port would intensify the psychological message about the true security of America's home waters.