1998 Year of the Ocean The Oceans and National Security 



Examples of maritime interception operations include the multinational maritime 

 interdiction operations against Haiti, Serbia/Montenegro, and Iraq. These operations are less 

 than airtight and require time to take effect. However, they are part of the foreign policy process 

 which led to the implementation of democracy in Haiti, motivated Serbia to accept the Dayton 

 Accord, and reduced Iraq's capability for military aggression both before and after the Gulf War. 

 The United States has been at the forefront of this emerging area of modem operational 

 peacemaking. 



In the realm of military operations other than war, naval forces also contribute presence 

 and amphibious capability, along with the ability to apply power at varying levels of intensity in 

 "smaller scale contingencies." Such maritime and littoral contingencies include: 



counterpiracy 



interdiction of drugs 



counterproliferation operations against weapons of mass destruction 



migrant control and reftigee operations 



interdiction of illegal migrant smuggling 



peacekeeping operations (such as in Bosnia) 



intervention in complex humanitarian emergencies (such as in Somalia) 



disaster relief 



non-combatant evacuation operations 



support of search and rescue missions 



Information Warfare 



The ocean environment enhances military command, control, and communications. 

 Ocean-borne platforms can provide military units deployed overseas with constant, secure, real- 

 time communication with tactical and strategic leadership in the United States. Information 

 superiority has several components: gathering, processing, and disseminating information; 

 information operations to defend against attack; and information operations directed against an 

 adversary's information.^ Information warfare is in its infancy but holds forth the hope of 

 military dominance without the use of physical force or loss of life. 



Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (IS«&R) 



The forward presence of ocean-based military forces enable the United States to gain a 

 better understanding of developing political military situations. Developing better intelligence, 

 surveillance, and reconnaissance are key ways to improve awareness of the battlespace, to track 

 the disposition of enemy forces, to enhance transparency among nations (i.e., reduce the risk of 

 accidental war), and to monitor U.S. allied and neutral warfighting assets. Better IS&R 

 technology permits more precise tracking of enemy assets, allowing for more effective disabling 

 of opponents with less use of firepower, less brute force, and less chance of collateral damage to 



5joint Chiefs of Staff, National Military Strategy of the United States of America, p.2 (1995). 



B-5 



