James Bridger at CSIS
I had the pleasure of last week meeting one of our newest members, James Bridger, who spear-headed our partnership with the Atlantic Council of Canada. He was in town for a Center for Strategic and...
View ArticlePiracy in West Africa: Preventing a Somalization of the Gulf of Guinea, Pt. 1
Gulf of Guinea Pirate Attacks in 2012. Source: IMB On August 4, 2012, pirates attacked an oil barge, killing two local security personnel and kidnapping four foreign workers. Two weeks later, pirates...
View ArticleAn International Response to Maritime Insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea
The International Crisis Group (ICG) recently released a report* on maritime security challenges in the Gulf of Guinea. As usual from ICG, the analysis is excellent and informative, with reasonable...
View ArticleMFP 9: Final Predictions For The Future
Any final predictions? This is the ninth and final regular post in our Maritime Futures Project. For more information on the contributors, click here. Note: The opinions and views expressed in these...
View Article7-13 October: Future African Navies Week
We are used to broad discussions on procurement and force development. The pre-requirement requirements have to be vetted by a blue-ribbon committee for vetting before formal review for potential...
View ArticleSC Episode 3: RealClear Podcast (Revised)
(Edited: Volume Corrected) Dustin Walker, founder and head editor of RealClearDefense, joins us for our third podcast. We talk about Tom Clancy and his legacy, the Government Shutdown our upcoming...
View ArticleAfrican Navies Week: Al Shabaab Is Only the Beginning
On the Run, or Running Somewhere New? After the massacre at Westgate, many American media outlets acted as if they were only hearing Al-Shabaab’s name for the first time. This is only the tip of the US...
View ArticleBalanced Public/Private Effort for West African Maritime Security
By Emil Maine and Charlotte Florance Shifting Hot Spots Over the past decade piracy off the coast of Somalia dominated the focus of international maritime security efforts. Recently, however, the...
View ArticleSC Episode 5: Africa
We speak to James Bridger, author of a menagerie of CIMSEC Articles on Africa and an Africa/Middle East Asymmetric maritime security analyst for Delex. Episode 5, our revisit of African security issues...
View ArticleAfrica: “A Problem As Unique As Each of its Constituent Parts”
Regarding Mr. Hipple’s article “African Navies Week: Al Shabaab is Only the Beginning”, he addressed a critical issue which all too often does not receive proper attention. It is a daunting prospect...
View ArticleSea Control 6: USCG Adventures
USCG Mobile Training Branch member, James Daffer, has traveled the world. We talk with him about what he’s seen in the world of capacity building for maritime security abroad, soft power and...
View ArticleHuman Smuggling Across the Gulf of Aden (2013 Edition)
Last week the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released figures on the number of migrants crossing the Gulf of Aden (and risking their life) by sea and arriving at their destination in an...
View ArticleSea Control 14 – My Other CAR is a Mali
Matt Hipple is joined by Zack Elkaim and James Bridger to talk about rebellions in Africa: the Central African Republic, Mali, and Nigeria, as well as the future prospects for Somalia. Today’s podcast...
View ArticleSea Control 17 – Rob Young Pelton plus Federal News Radio
James Bridger interviews adventurer extraordinaire, Rob Young Pelton, about his upcoming crowd-funded journey to find Jospeh Kony and further updates on the situation in Africa. Jim and Rob discuss...
View ArticleSea Control 29 – Erik Prince
In Episode 29, Sea Control interviews Erik Prince, former CEO of Blackwater. He describes the challenges of African logistics and how his new public venture, Frontier Services Group, will attempt to...
View ArticlePMCs: The End or the Beginning?
This feature is special to our Private Military Contractor (PMC)’s Week – a look at PMCs’ utility and future, especially in the maritime domain. The National Intelligence Council’s report Global Trends...
View ArticleBook Review: “Saving South Sudan”
Disclosure: I have been following the evolution and progress of Robert Young Pelton‘s work on Sudan for several months. I am quite pleased with what came of this trip for Robert and his filmmaker /...
View ArticleWest Africa: More Dangerous Pirates, Less Adequete Security
West Africa is home to the world’s most violent pirates—who are now proving capable of overwhelming armed guards. Last month pirates killed a crewmember during an attack on German-owned oil tanker....
View ArticleDisturbing the Pond: A Missing Tanker in the Gulf of Guinea
MT Fair Artemis. Image (c) MarineTraffic.com/Mgklingsick@aol.com By James M. Bridger, Delex Systems Inc. A Greek-owned oil tanker that lost contact with its owner after the evening of June 4 is still...
View ArticlePrivate Anti-Piracy Navies: How Warships for Hire are Changing Maritime Security
This is an article in our first “Non Navies” Series. By Emil Maine I recently sat down with John-Clark Levin, coauthor of Private Anti-Piracy Navies: How Warships for Hire are Changing Maritime...
View ArticleRe-Post: Al Shabaab Is Only the Beginning
As Boko Haram declares its own caliphate, we re-post this article from 7 OCT 2013. On the Run, or Running Somewhere New? After the massacre at Westgate, many American media outlets acted as if they...
View ArticleHow To Make The ‘Ebola Bomb’: Why You Should Stop Worrying About Bioterrorism
By Sandra Ivanov The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the deadliest epidemic since the virus was discovered in 1976, crossing international borders, it has claimed over 2’600 lives (as of September 18,...
View ArticlePublication Release: Africa Compendium
Authors: Breuk Bass Mark Hay Matt Hipple Timothy Baker Dirk Steffen James Bridger Emil Maine Charlotte Florance Editors: Matt Hipple Chris Papas Scott Cheney-Peters Download Here Over the...
View ArticleSea Control 72 – Obangame Express, Gulf of Guinea
We interview CAPT Rinko, USN, and CDR Sune, Cameroon, about Obangame Express, the 23 Nation Gulf of Guinea Maritime Security exercise. We discuss the scope and purpose of the exercise, the challenges...
View ArticleOBANGAME EXPRESS 2015: Two steps forward. One step back.
Between 19 and 27 March OBANGAME EXPRESS, African Partnership Station’s annual exercise since 2011 took place off the coasts of West African states between Côte d’Ivoire and Angola. It is the fifth...
View ArticleWest African Navies Coming of Age?
By Dirk Steffen On 11 February 2016, fourteen Nigerian and Ghanaian pirates in two speedboats attacked the product tanker MAXIMUS (ex-SP BRUSSELS) 70 nm south of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. They hijacked the...
View ArticleA Niger Delta Militant Group Declares War on the Nigerian Navy
By Dirk Steffen Many suspected it as the intensity of pirate attacks off the Niger Delta increased inexorably in the course of April, with 15 attacks between 1 and 21 April 2016. There is a contest...
View ArticleSea Control 117 – Niger Delta Pirates Declare War?
Niger Delta violence returns as oil prices plummet and both the Nigerian government’s ability and willingness to pay off former militants decreases. As the Nigerian Navy moves to counter this new...
View ArticleMembers’ Roundup: April 2016
By Sam Cohen Welcome to the April 2016 members’ roundup. Over the past month CIMSEC members have examined several international maritime security issues, including the strategic implications of China’s...
View ArticleMembers’ Roundup: June 2016
By Sam Cohen Welcome to the June 2016 members’ roundup. Throughout June, CIMSEC members examined several international maritime security issues, including increased competition in the undersea...
View ArticleEuropean Answers for African Questions?
Maritime Security Topic Week By Dirk Siebels Introduction Maritime security challenges have received increasing attention in Europe in recent years. In 2014, the Council of the European Union adopted...
View ArticleGulf of Guinea Maritime Security in 2016
By Dirk Steffen 2016 witnessed a marked increase in maritime security incidents over the previous year, irrespective of the counting standards. Denmark-based Risk Intelligence counted 119 verified...
View ArticleDrones in Africa: A Leap Ahead for Maritime Security
By CAPT Chris Rawley and LCDR Cedric Patmon Technology adoption moves in fits and starts. The developing world cannot be forced into accepting new technology, but it can be enabled, and often in a...
View ArticleThe Gulf of Guinea is Ready for Maritime Technology
By Dr. Ian Ralby, Dr. David Soud, and Rohini Ralby Few regions of the world have seen more improvement in maritime security institutions over the last five years than the Gulf of Guinea. At the same...
View ArticleIf Not China, Who? Competing in Africa Through Foreign Military Education
Countering China Topic Week By Matthew Quintero “If not China, who?” was a question asked during a class on foreign investment in Africa. The speaker was an African naval officer. The class was equally...
View ArticleSea Control 262 – Africa’s Combined Exclusive Maritime Zone with Dr. Vishal...
Dr. Vishal Surbun joins the program to discuss the African Union’s 2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy, the proposed Combined Exclusive Zone and more! This episode was edited and produced by...
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