The Piracy Problem

Posted: December 22nd, 2015

By Assis Malaquias

Dr. Assis Malaquias is the Academic Chair for Defense Economics at the National Defense University's Africa Center for Strategic Studies. He focuses on resource management in the security sector in addition to maritime security in Africa, and he specializes in international security. Prior to this position, Malaquias served as Professor of Government and Associate Dean of International and Intercultural Studies at St. Lawrence University, in Canton, NY and taught in South Africa.

Although piracy in the Gulf of Aden attracted global attention and efforts to combat the threat, a similar and growing problem in the Gulf of Guinea—off the coast of West Africa—is being largely ignored. Dr. Assis Malaquias, the Academic Chair for Defense Economics at the National Defense University’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies, explains how this instability is a threat to security and business, and explores how to go about combatting the problem.

The Cipher Brief: What security threats are present in the Gulf of Guinea? Is the problem getting better or worse? What U.S. interests are at stake?

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