Leveraging Global Maritime Partnerships to Increase Global Security in the Maritime Domain

Book excerpt: There is an urgent need for a unified global effort to increase security in the maritime domain. Global Maritime Partnerships (GMPs) must be leveraged to internationalize the Global Fleet Stations (GFSs) concept to increase global security in the maritime domain. The methodology of research for this paper was a literary search and analysis of current national and international maritime security strategies and regulations, looking for commonality in the perceived maritime threat, along with ways to address the maritime threat with a unified front. A critical part of the research was the evaluation of dialogue groups, coalitions and regional security initiatives currently in place that could be leveraged to generate a broader and more effective global response to increasing maritime security. Using an ends, ways, means model this paper will lay out a path to increased security in the maritime domain, which starts using current dialogue and coalitions in place to build trust and enduring GMPs. The paper will identify shortfalls or seams with those current efforts and then illustrate how key groups like the embassy country teams must be leveraged to facilitate a holistic government approach to meet the host nation needs to improve global security in the maritime domain. This paper will illustrate that the GFS concept has significant potential to increase security in the maritime domain, especially if it is supported by the international community, to include other countries taking a lead role to establish their own GFSs.