The War for Muddy Waters: Pirates, Terrorists, Traffickers, and Maritime Insecurity - Paperback

by Joshua Tallis (Author)

Historically, operations and studies regarding maritime security focus on individual threats (e.g., piracy, terrorism, narcotics) and individual measures to target them (e.g., counterpiracy, counterterrorism, counternarcotics). This book explores, for the first time, an overall strategy for maritime security, integrating these issues into a single framework. Tallis argues that as maritime security threats rise in sophistication, it will be increasingly appealing to apply military resources to counter them. Military tactics, however, may not be the ideal mechanisms for addressing challenges that are often closer to crime than to war. Leveraging the sea services' capabilities without overly militarizing maritime security is a complicated problem that requires a more strategic and partner-oriented approach to the challenge. At stake, in Tallis' estimation, is the war for tomorrow's most important communities, their human security, and the muddy waters on which they and the global system rely.

Author Biography

Joshua Tallis, PhD, has served as an advisor to Navy leaders at all levels of command. As a senior research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses, he served as a special assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations, the Deputy CNO for Operations, Plans, and Strategy (N3N5), and the commander of US Sixth Fleet. Tallis's time as an advisor also includes embarking as the embedded analyst in support of the commander of Carrier Strike Group Eight while underway in the High North and Mediterranean. He holds a PhD in international relations from the University of St Andrews.