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Briefing: Combating terrorism at sea 1. Active Endeavour Contents   1. Active Endeavour   2. Expanding the mission  3. Unexpected benefits  4. NATO naval operations  5. Proliferation Security Initiative  6. Early measures to combat terrorism Editorial Note   Important publisher and editorial information about this document Other Formats English PDF (~550Kb) Printable version with colour illustrations Order a hardcopy version using the online order form. NATO ships are patrolling throughout the Mediterranean monitoring shipping and providing escorts to non-military shipping through the Straits of Gibraltar to help detect, deter and protect against terrorist activity. "Keeping the Mediterranean's busy trade routes open and safe is critical to NATO's security" The operation, called Active Endeavour, has evolved out of NATO's immediate response to the terrorist attacks against the United States of 11 September 2001. As the Alliance has refined its counter-terrorism role in the intervening years, the operation's mandate has been regularly reviewed and its remit extended. NATO initially deployed its Standing Naval Forces to the Eastern Mediterranean on 6 October 2001 in a demonstration of Alliance resolve and solidarity. That was a day before the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom, the US-led campaign to oust al Qaida and the Taliban from Afghanistan. This deployment was one of eight measures taken by NATO to support the United States in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, following the invocation of Article 5, NATO's collective defence provision, for the first time in the Alliance's history. The deployment, which was formally named Operation Active Endeavour on 26 October 2001 and is directed from Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe (NAVSOUTH) in Naples, Italy, represented a milestone for the Alliance. Together with the dispatch of Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) aircraft to the United States, it was the first time that NATO assets had been deployed in support of an Article 5 operation. "Active Endeavour is a fulfilment of a NATO commitment to the United States following the terrorist attacks of September 2001," says NAVSOUTH Commander, Italian Vice Admiral Ferdinando Sanfelice di Monteforte, who is also the commander of Active Endeavour. "It is also an important contribution to the preservation of peace, stability and security of all Alliance member nations." As of March 2004, some 42,000 vessels had been monitored. Keeping the Mediterranean's busy trade routes open and safe is critical to NATO's security. In terms of energy alone, some 65 per cent of the oil and natural gas consumed in Western Europe pass through the Mediterranean each year, with major pipelines connecting Libya to Italy and Morocco to Spain. For this reason, NATO ships are systematically carrying out preparatory route surveys in "choke" points as well as in important passages and harbours throughout the Mediterranean.

© NATO - OTAN 2004 -	NATO Public Diplomacy Division 1110 Brussels, Belgium - E-mail: natodoc@hq.nato.int