A set of fishermen turned smugglers operating across the Palk Straits in 10 foot dinghies with OBMs, in the late 70’s progressed over a period of time to transform into a formidable and ruthless terrorist outfit by the late 90’s. This terrorist organization was eventually capable of operating and launching attacks from the jungles, towns, beaches, coastal waters, underwater, in the high seas and even from the air. How did they achieve this? They developed the Diaspora support, international financial potential, transnational logistical network, global transportation and trained cadres mainly through direct and indirect support of some foreign countries, agencies and interested individuals. None of the military equipment and other commercially off the shelf (COTS) items used by these terrorists were made or manufactured in Sri Lanka.

How did these items reach an island nation? Your guess is as good as mine. Such terrorist action with International support, very nearly destroyed the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. An independent sovereign state, But yet the International community watched this scenario unfold without extending effective support or collective counter action, perhaps not realizing the gravity.

However, a committed, democratically elected, fearless executive leadership with the right attitude, aided by a few friendly countries and equally committed brave, professional, disciplined and well-trained armed forces supported by the general public defeated a terrorist group, at one time the most feared and ruthless in the world.

Sri Lanka was compelled to respond to these terrorists aggressively on all fronts for the survival of the nation and its peace-loving citizens, irrespective of community. This triumph was an unprecedented achievement, at a very heavy cost in terms of human life and resources at the expense of peace, economic progress and national growth of my country. Had this victory not taken place, I would not be here before this distinguished audience to share over 30 years of experience in countering terrorism at sea and on land.

Let me now alter course to the classic naval role and the lessons learnt from this protracted conflict, and focus on the theme of this prestigious and important 19th sea-power symposium – Leveraging Cooperative Effort to Enhance Maritime Security Operations.

Navies today see a newly emerging threat forcing them to concentrate on the littorals. This has brought about a transformation in contemporary naval forces to come to grips a new form of Naval warfare – that of the asymmetrical or I prefer to call irregular kind. The Sri Lankan Navy is a small force but is an experienced battle hardened robust one that has met this challenge and decisively defeated a terrorist group that was at the cutting edge of maritime terror. A group which used ‘suicide’ as its main weapon and became a model for other terror groups around the world. A group well funded, running an international logistical network and its own shipping organization.

The Sri Lanka Navy used her limited resources to go after the terrorist gun-running shipping network, which took advantage of the freedom of the seas, using the global commons for their criminal purpose. Results were achieved after many long painstaking searches, good intelligence & mutual cooperation with friendly states. These enemy ‘Floating Warehouses’ that were systematically interdicted and destroyed carried an cache of weaponry, explosives ,under water equipment, dual use off the shelf equipment and aircraft - an arsenal capable of sustaining full scale combat operations for years in Sri Lanka, had they reached our shores. On the other hand the question still remains, as to whether the complete consignment of warlike material carried onboard was to create terror in Sri Lanka alone, or was the surplus destined to fuel terrorist activity elsewhere?

Some of the ships that spearheaded this task group, were gifts received from friendly nations without which this task would have been impossible. What better example can I offer for ‘leveraging cooperative efforts to enhance maritime security operations’?

The Sri Lanka navy is possibly the only navy today that has experienced the maritime terrorist threat from every dimension in every form and learnt its lessons the hard way - at the expense of good men who paid with the ultimate sacrifice - that others may one day live in peace. I can proudly declare that my navy has the experience and what it takes to fight this irregular threat, be it suicide craft, swarm attack, semi submersible vessels , low profile high speed explosive laden craft including jet skis. We have also experienced the deceptive suicide fishing craft and the suicide under water saboteur. The Sri Lanka navy also formulated the concept of OBST – On Board Security Teams which were deployed on board merchant ships for security whilst transiting through dangerous waters – these well trained teams were successful in being an effective deterrent against terrorist attack. This is the answer to the problem of piracy we are experiencing, and properly trained OBST teams could mitigate this issue in a short period if deployed now.

The way ahead is for navies worldwide to focus their resources in enhancing maritime security operations & adopt cooperative efforts to deny unlawful elements and non state actors from exploiting the freedom of the seas. To achieve this we need to share intelligence, resources & above all have the right attitude and commitment to get the job done. Our adversary who loiters in open seas is a master of deception; and will make use of the loopholes in International maritime law to appear legitimate. How prepared and more importantly how committed are we in dealing with this developing threat? I believe this is the real Challenge. Are we, strong enough to provide our Commanding officers realistic ROE’s required to meet today’s irregular threat or otherwise ?

The strategy Sri Lanka adapted to meet and counter this threat was to hit the COG of the terrorists, which was their well established logistic chain. To achieve this, the Sri Lanka Navy followed a seven-step strategy. The first being to deter the desire & potentials:

a.The desire for undemocratic action comes from the creation of an opportunity structure that emanates from the standing of economic, social and political conditions of a state. This desire has to be countered by deep understanding of the problem, where the root causes of the problem have to be positively addressed by targeting the grievances of the affected group. This aspect received the highest priority of my Government’s agenda. Another area where the potential could be addressed is to break the desire for a political objective, in this case a separate state. To achieve this, insurgency and terrorism must be fought on two fronts, both physical & psychological.

b. The second step is to disrupt the organization & the network: A terrorist organization with maritime capability needs to operate from foreign soil or a safe base; the prevention of the use of foreign soil for all illegal activity particularly on remote islands and isolated coastal stretches needs to be addressed. Secondly, propaganda and fund raising for the group should be effectively curbed. This includes Proscribing the organization, Arrest of leaders, Probing large bank transactions neutralising active cells, disturbing cover up organisations and preventing the use of state & private mechanisms for terrorist propaganda. Making use of liberal opportunities for such activities must be stopped, if detrimental to another country’s national security. The atrocities committed by these terrorists and their supporters both local and abroad are now coming to light through surrendered and captured terrorist leaders and it is unfortunate that some countries had harboured well known Sri Lankan terrorist cadres including leaders and permitted them to function within their borders promoting escalation of violence and terror in Sri Lanka.

c.The third step is to deny terrorist acquisition and point of origin: Any terrorist group will require the right connections to purchase military hardware, and denying such acquisitions is a key factor. This is a difficult task, but the best way to achieve it is by close regional and international intelligence collaboration.

On continuing the third point…. it involves denying the enemy his point of origin: It is a well known fact that the Asian region especially that of south-east Asia has become a safe heaven for illegal arms shipments and smuggling. Therefore thwarting the use of foreign ports and the coast line for such activities at the point of origin is paramount.

d.The fourth step involves enhanced surveillance, intelligence & monitoring: Superior maritime domain awareness (MDA) in monitoring activities at sea and an integrated information sharing mechanism is a viable option in deterring this phase. This is a one point where regional or for that matter international cooperation is found lacking.

e.The fifth step involves search & detect: Detection by effective local level surveillance is a must for homeland defence. It is at this stage that an effective Navy on surveillance with maritime air surveillance plays a decisive role.

f.The sixth step is the arrest, prosecute and destruct:

When detected and confirmed as a rogue ship, the ROE must be robust enough to give commanding officers the leeway to act decisively. It needs clear political-will and military resolve to neutralise the potential threat.

g.The seventh & last step would be the securing the landing point: The landing point of enemy logistics must be denied by effective coastal and ground domination operations.

Continued on Monday