Safeguarding the Seas
NATO Delivers: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
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The world population relies on the seas and oceans for international commerce, as a source of food and for vital supplies of oil and natural gas. It is NATO’s responsibility to help protect international commerce and its member countries’ maritime resources from potential threats, as well as from possible attacks upon their territory that may come from the sea.
To this end, NATO is involved in several operations to increase maritime safety and security.
Operation Active Endeavour
Operation Active Endeavour is a maritime surveillance operation led by NATO’s naval forces to detect, deter and protect against terrorist activity in the Mediterranean through monitoring, patrolling, escorting and compliant boarding. The operation, NATO’s only Article 5 operation on anti-terrorism, evolved out of NATO’s immediate response to the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001 and, in view of its success, is being continued.
Counter-piracy Operations
Piracy continues to be a serious security threat. NATO is actively engaged in combating piracy and armed robbery at sea off the Horn of Africa – in line with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions and in close cooperation with other key organizations and countries involved. Due to this cooperation, the number of successful pirate attacks has been reduced by almost half, from 2010 to 2011.