Piracy: The Best Business Model Available, JSOU Report 13-7

by John B. Alexander

"In this monograph, [the author] sets the stage with a brief historical account of how maritime piracy has evolved over the centuries to its current state: a vast enterprise whose increasing profitability has attracted a confluence of nefarious actors including warlords and international criminal organizations. Further, [the author] speculates on the potential for intersection between pirates and ideological terrorist movements such as al-Qaeda and Associated Movements."

85 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2013

Reviews

[ADD · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the author does a good job demonstrating the improvements in pirate capabilities and coordination over time and how costly the business is to those that try to avoid or dissuade them, he doesn't explain how this is the best business model as the title suggests. He doesn't compare the piracy model to any other model so how it the title assertion made? Some of his maritime facts also suggest that better research may have been required prior to publication and caused me to question other "facts". For example, stating that shipborne firefighting water pressure at the nozzle is "680 to 800 pounds per square inch" is a suspect statement. Holding on to a fire hose at 100 psi is challenging enough, let alone something eight times the pressure. Besides most commercial vessels (over 4000 gross vessel tonnage) have pumps that produce minimum output pressures of 58-60 psi. A pump producing ten times the output pressure would not be cost effective if the industry requirement is for much less. Otherwise, his assertions about the national security implications to the United States are well received. And some of his suggestions / recommendations are also informative, albeit couched in far tamer language than I would have used. My recommendation - hang 'em from the yard arm at sea. Piracy will drop quickly once the world shows we mean business....but, alas, I am on my soap box - my apologies.