Researchers highlight cruise ship security

In a recently released report, the RAND Corp. says that improved security assessment of maritime assets is required. While noting that maritime assets are targeted relatively rarely, accounting for only two percent of attacks in the last 30 years, Peter Chalk, one of the co-authors, says that the process of assessing those maritime assets most at risk needs to be improved.

As a start, Chalk and his colleagues pinpoint cruise ships and ferries as the most likely targets, and say that bombs or biological contaminants are the most likely forms of attack. Less likely, but more catastrophic if successful, would be the boarding and detonation of a nuclear device.

Among the recommended countermeasures: better passenger, crew and luggage screening; shipping industry policies that prevent the smuggling of nuclear devoices while safeguarding economic viability; and improved post-incident procedures for re-opening ports and restoring shipping flows after an attack.