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some in bulk like oil and minerals, but much of it in 20-foot containers called TEUs (for twenty-foot equivalent) units. The west coast ports of Los Angeles , Oakland , Portland and Seattle currently bring in more than 10 million TEUs every year, a number that will double within the decade. Only a small fraction of these are inspected. The United States is addressing this inspection problem, but we are also examining the larger picture. The U.S. Pacific Command has launched the Regional Maritime Security Initiative. As reported by The Washington Times, according to Adm. Thomas Fargo, who heads the Pacific Command from its headquarters in Hawaii , the Initiative's goal is to forge a partnership of nations willing to identify and intercept "transnational maritime threats under existing international and domestic laws."

There are some 90,000 ships plying the oceans of this planet. The vast majority of these vessels sail under flags of convenience, registered in Tonga , Panama , Liberia , Cyprus or the Bahamas , which means that they are not subject to control by any international authority. They check out of the local maritime traffic control system upon leaving port, and eventually show up somewhere else, often without advance notice, and with essentially no information on where they have been in the interim. As Adm. Fargo told Congress in March, "We need to gain an awareness of the maritime domain to match the picture we have of our international airspace."

In other words, we need to know where these guys are all of the time.

This is where the old Cold War SOSUS network comes into play. Newly updated, and outfitted to pinpoint the locations of ships that are not controlled by any international or national authority, SOSUS once again is available to protect our shores and those of other peace-loving nations from international maritime threats.

Knowing where the ships are located is ninety percent of the battle. It matters little that terrorists know we can do this, because there is absolutely no way for them to avoid being detected - except to stay within the 100-fathom curve, which puts them squarely under Coast Guard surveillance or that of the Guard's foreign equivalents.

Constantly knowing the location of all the world's rogue ships leaves little opportunity for them to meet with or be controlled by terrorists. Knowing where they are, and what they are doing, whom they are meeting, and where they are headed leaves little to chance, and goes a long way toward securing our shores from the horror of a ship borne nuclear, biological, or chemical attack.

In the words of the Commander-in-Chief: "Bring em on!"

Learn more about this author, Robert Williscroft.
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