Part of the Solution
Providing security teams is only one of the services that PSC provide. Others include security intelligence, risk assessment and consulting; crisis response; and intervention.
Maritime PSC: Not the Solution, But Part of the Solution
By David Isenberg, Huffington PostÂ
Those who follow the issue of attacks by Somali pirates on commercial shipping are likely aware that many shipowners’ firms have turned to private security contractors to protect their ships. Of course, having actual security teams aboard ship is only one of the services that PSC provide. Others include security intelligence, risk assessment and consulting; crisis response; and intervention.
Yet while all these services offer some value, “the potential costs of hiring these firms would appear to outweigh the benefits,” according to a recent article in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism journal.
However, the author, Lars Bangert Struwe of the Centre for Military Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark, does acknowledge that PSC can be a benefit “if they are used in a coordinated way by ship owners and the international society. In this way they can become an….[access full article]
