Pirate-Terrorist Problem Summary

Reasonable summary of the problem with pirates and terrorists at sea from the SF Chronicle: Pirates preying on vessels could instead be terrorists / Seagoing raiders thrive in areas of lax enforcement

Pirates roam the seas wherever governments and law enforcement are weak. Above all, this occurs around Indonesia, which has more than 17,000 islands and suffered more than a quarter of the 325 reported pirate attacks in the world last year (many were not officially reported).

The southwestern shore of the Strait of Malacca is the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the site of the earthquake that set off the devastating tsunami in December. According to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre, the Strait of Malacca is "the most dangerous passage" in the world.