Pirate plan goes global with intel sharing

[unhappycamper]

Pirate plan goes global with intel sharing
By Vago Muradian and Philip Ewing - Staff writers
Posted : Sunday Nov 30, 2008 13:51:08 EST

Top Navy leaders are sharing highly classified intelligence and their new Maritime Domain Awareness system with close allies to more effectively combat a rising tide of piracy across the Horn of Africa, a senior Navy official said.

The move comes as the U.S. and its allies grow concerned over the possibility of pirates forming ties with terrorist groups.

Marshall Billingeslea, the deputy undersecretary of the Navy, led a delegation that included senior service intelligence and piracy experts to Brussels, Belgium, on Nov. 18 for meetings with top NATO military officials and ambassadors. Ongoing counterinsurgency operations include some 18 ships from NATO and European Union nations, as well as Russia and India.

During the briefing sessions — including with the chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, Italian Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola — the U.S. team demonstrated the Maritime Domain Awareness system, which is able to better track global maritime traffic.

Over the next month, 6th Fleet, NATO and U.S. Africa Command will join the system that was adopted in May 2007.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/11/navy_pirates_112808p/%2e