"Exclusive: Look Out Below-The Terror Threat From the Sea," from Newsweek, with thanks to Nicolei:
March 28 issue - Al Qaeda frogmen sound like one of the more exotic terrorist threats-but Homeland Security chiefs are preparing, just in case. Last month the Coast Guard launched a special program to train members of its seagoing SWAT teams how to protect U.S. ports against scuba-diving attackers. Members of Coast Guard commando teams based at 12 ports on the U.S. coastline will be taught underwater fighting techniques and how to use secret weapons....The notion that Osama bin Laden's followers might turn to scuba diving is not a Tom Clancy fantasy. Three years ago Dutch authorities looking into a jihad recruiting ring in the town of Eindhoven learned that one of their suspects was keen on scuba diving. Investigation led them to a Tunisian diving instructor with a connection to radical Islam. Dutch intelligence watched as the Tunisian ran his own diving classes, which attracted suspected Islamic militant students from around the Netherlands. The diving instructor eventually left the country, but a spokesman for the AIVD, the Netherlands' secret service, told NEWSWEEK the investigation is still open.
Dutch authorities note that they know of no current specific terrorist threat posed by Qaeda divers, nor have the Dutch launched any special diver-related security measures to protect their ports, which include Rotterdam, one of the world's largest. U.S. officials also say they know of no imminent underwater threat. An FBI official said the bureau surveyed diving schools after the Dutch case first came to light, but never repeated the exercise. An intelligence source said the threat should be kept "in proportion." But only last week, a captured militant from a Qaeda affiliate in the Philippines claimed he and other jihadis took diving lessons to prepare for a seaborne attack....
It makes sense.
First they tried the air, next they'll try the sea.
The logistics of an underwater operation are a lot more difficult than buying an airplane ticket. The operations they seek are simple, so simple they fall below our radar.
Say what you want, but in my eyes these terrorists are more likely to use a shipping container for a nuke than use scuba gear to come ashore.
In either event, we'd be bettor off to close our borders on the North and South than prepare for a bunch of rag head scuba divers.
Voltaire
It does make very good sense.
Does anybody else remember the old film The Silent Enemy about the Royal Navy frogman Lt. Lionel (Buster)Crabb who worked in and around (under?)Gibraltar in 1942? Not the same chap who made the Tarzan films. Even the War Office were not convinced in the beginning how effective a small team of divers could be.
This has concerned me for quite some time now....Worldnetdaily has done extensive research into this area....One particular quote from this piece caught my attention back in June of 2004....
" The capture of al-Qaida's chief of naval operations, Ahmad Belai al-Neshari, helped reveal the blueprint of the group's maritime plots. Al-Neshari was found carrying a 180-page dossier that listed large cruise liners sailing from Western ports as "targets of opportunity. "
Direct URL to the complete Worldnetdaily article....
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38835
Imagine what other targets of opportunity lie near the coasts. For Islam, there are no innocents and all can be sacrificed in their service.
BillR:
While it may be more difficult than buying an airplane ticket, it can't too tough a job. The French managed to pull it off in New Zealand with a few divers.
http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Childrens/NZDisasters/RainbowWarrior.asp
Some of you are missing the point. The scuba gear is not for the purpose of "coming ashore" (they are already ashore).
The scuba gear is for surreptitiously approaching a target ship, at anchor, and attaching a bomb/mine. The mine could then be detonated by timer or remote control.
Attacks of this nature were actually carried out during WWII. You can sink ships this way. Big ones.