Vessel Boarding and Seizure: a relic of the past?

Is it always wrong to sink a drug boat? Many, even on Capitol Hill, are concerned by the seemingly gung-ho attitude of military strikes on small boats. As the last of the Thanksgiving turkey is finished, I will ponder some thoughts. It is wrong to allow dangerous drugs into the United States? If we look to Asia and the Middle East, drug trafficking is considered a crime against the people and the state. The United States has not maintained that type of collective-minded culture: despite being on the books since the 1990’s, no one has faced the death sentence for large-scale drug trafficking in the United States. Drugs were something that happened in the inner-city, among the ‘other’ The opioid epidemic and fentanyl crisis have shown how pervasive the drug problem really is. Sinking drug boats in international water: isn’t that an act of war? If we limited drug boat interception to territorial waters and the contiguous zone, a total distance of 24 nautical miles offshore, beachgoers would be witnesses to drug boat interception. On the other hand, the Exclusive Economic Zone for activities such as fishing and offshore drilling extends to 200 miles. I will leave the implications of international law enforcement on the high seas to the lawyers. It’s cruel to shipwreck a sailor! Indeed, assistance should be rendered to any sailor whose fighting capacity has been eliminated, regardless of nationality or group affiliation. Let me offer a personal perspective. Over the past several decades, American sailors, particularly the US Coast Guard and Special Forces personnel, have taken high level of risks in apprehending suspicious vessels on the high seas. Some may attribute this to milquetoast leadership, but I attribute the soft-touch approach of Vessel Boarding and Seizure to the realpolitik of host nation sensitivities. Two names come to mind: the USS Monsoon (PC 4) and USS Lewis Puller (ESB 3), both ships I have embarked. It is notable that both ships were homeported in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Both ships, albeit decades apart, had seen the loss of sailors’ lives when attempting to board hostile vessels. Shifting tactics, to apprehension from a distance, can save sailors’ lives. Wanton destruction for the sake of shock and awe, particularly if loss of life results after threat is neutralized, may hurt sailors’ psyche and morale.