Maritime Security Initiatives: A Paper Tiger or a Concrete Solution?

For more than a decade, the threat of terrorism from weapons of mass destruction (WMS) has been on the forefront of the international security agenda. In an increasingly globalized society, it is of utmost priority to detect and interdict illicit trafficking of radioactive and nuclear materials (RN) in order to prevent individuals and organizations—those who are willing to perpetrate acts of WMD terrorism—from acquiring such materials. Recently revealed terrorists’ surveillance of a nuclear official in Belgium only confirms this importance. In this context it is also worth noting that “traditional” transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) are increasingly collaborating with terrorist organizations to traffic commodities, such as arms, narcotics, antiquities, humans, as well as wildlife and wildlife body parts. Another emerging trend is the hybridization of terrorist organizations that are engaging in criminal activities such as illicit trafficking of narcotics to fund their terrorist activities (Picarelli 2006, Picarelli 2012a, Picarelli 2012b, Picarelli and Shelley 2007, Sanderson 2004).