Oceans of Crime: Maritime Piracy and Transnational Security in Southeast Asia and Bangladesh

8. Privatizing the Fight against Piracy

Privatizing the Fight against Pir acy 321 8 PRIVATIZING THE FIGHT AGAINST PIRACY [T]he most immediate telling effect on the modern buccaneers may well come not as a r esult of high-sounding pontifications fr om international bodies. It may well result from the availability of well trained and equipped commercial marine security for ces operating out of North America, Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia — driven as the pirates ar e by the pursuit of profit. Frank Hopkins1 INTRODUCTION We live in an incr easingly privatized world. Private education, private airlines, private telephone companies, and private health car e are only a few examples of the increasing impact of privatization on our daily lives. Designed to stay competitive in the global market, private companies promise cheaper rates and better service for the customer . Today, such companies offer services for every aspect of life, including the security and military sectors. It should, ther efore, come as no surprise that so-called PSCs or PMCs (Private Military Companies) ar e also employed to secure the world’s oceans. Indeed, in the last ten years an incr easing number of private companies have surfaced and expanded their operations, offering services ranging fr om piracy r esponse training for law enfor cement 08 Oceans_Crime 12/14/10, 2:55 PM 321 322 Oceans of Crime personnel, to recapturing hijacked vessels and r escuing kidnapped crew members. This new alternative for shipowners, insurance companies, and other businesses involved in the maritime sector to r espond to piracy in Southeast Asia2 is part of — and exemplifies — the incr easing privatization of security. By examining anti-piracy services offered by PMCs/PSCs it is therefore possible to understand the role, impact, and shortcomings of the privatized security industry within and beyond maritime Southeast Asia. This chapter discusses the privatization of security and the emer gence of PMCs/PSCs and examines the dif ferent types of anti-piracy services provided by such companies in SoutheastAsia.3 It shows that the existence of PMCs/PSCs and their operations in maritime SoutheastAsia indicate that there are security gaps and weaknesses in current maritime security arrangements. Furthermore, the chapter highlights some of the cr ucial problems and controversies associated with the privatization of maritime security and suggests that the existence of PSCs and the services they offer reveal a range of security pr oblems and concerns in and beyond Southeast Asia. PRIVATIZATION OF SECURITY The United States-led war in Iraq in 2003 and its aftermath have br ought to world attention the existence and involvement of private companies in wars and post-war r econstruction efforts. Indeed, media r eports of the horrific deaths of four employees of Blackwater USA in Fallujah and the coverage of private contractors’ alleged involvement in the abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison heightened public awareness of the nature of work conducted by the private military industry in conflict zones. 4 Given the scale of the employment of PMCs/PSCs in Iraq, Singer suggests: [T]he Iraq War is wher e the history books will note that the [private military] industry took full flight. Iraq is not just the biggest U.S. military commitment in a generation but also the biggest marketplace in the short history of the privatized military industry. In Iraq, private actors play a pivotal role in great-power warfare to an extent not seen since the advent of the mass nation-state armies in the Napoleonic Age.5 Singer’s statement also shows that outsour cing of military services is hardly a new phenomenon. Looking at history one finds numer ous examples of private military actors — known as mer cenaries,6 condotierri, or dogs of war to mention just a few — in past conflicts and wars ar ound 08 Oceans_Crime 12/14/10, 2:55 PM 322 Privatizing the Fight against Pir acy 323 the world.7 However, in the past fifteen years, PMCs or PSCs have arisen as a new breed of private military actor. PMCs/PSCs are private business companies offering a large variety of services in the military and security sector. There has been an ongoing debate over how to distinguish between PMCs and PSCs. Some observers have suggested that PMCs pr ovide active security services, including military training, while PSCs of fer more passive services, such as logistics support for military operations. Yet, as Singer argues, these distinctions are difficult to put...