The task in Albania, as in many developing countries, is the restructuring and modernization of maritime forces essential to deal with today's challenges such as illegal trafficking (in drugs, people, and goods), Search and Rescue, as well as more traditional military defense missions. Albania's historical legacy is unique, and influences its maritime transformation in numerous respects. Many of the ships are obsolete Soviet ships dating for the late 1950s or Chinese ships dating from the late 1960s. The legacy of a decades-long policy of isolation from Europe as a whole, and even from neighboring Balkan countries means that the country has to address the need to develop security relations on many fronts. The military legacy is also isolationist and land force-centric (even today, the Army's Reserve Brigades alone have a larger budget than the entire Navy.) Albania is geographically situated in a troubled and often dangerous region in the Balkans, with a large Albanian population living outside the sate borders of Albania (in Kosovo, Greece, etc.) Finally, there is the historical legacy of a confusing maritime legal and institutional framework (e.g., the Coast Guard Law of 2002, with the "Coast Guard as part of the Navy structure.")

　

 There is an urgent need to completely transform the Albanian Navy. First and foremost, in order to be able to deal with the full spectrum of challenges to the Navy, a Maritime Strategy was needed-including Missions, Concept of Operations, and major mission training exercises. The Albanian Navy faces many constraints in this transformation. In the political context, Albania is a fragile new democracy, and faces pressing economic, social, and public order priorities. In the financial area, Albania's military budget is barely 1.4% of GDP. Put another way, the total military budget of US $107M ($6M Navy) equals two hours of Pentagon spending!

　

 An Albanian Navy Transformation Roadmap was developed and recently approved by the Minister of Defense and Chief of Defense of Albania. There are four key elements to this Navy Transformation Roadmap: (1) Albanian Maritime Strategy (including Missions, Concept of Operations, and priorities.); (2) Force Structure Plan; (3) Infrastructure Plan; (4) Organizational Alignment Plan (personnel, logistics, maintenance, training). Some of the Major Issues which emerged during the development of the Navy Transformation Roadmap are not limited to Albania, but relevant to many Asia Pacific maritime forces. These Major Issues include: (1) Navy/Coast Guard Integration (addressed in Roadmap by a "One Navy" concept); (2) Jointness (need the Air Force for Search and Rescue, surveillance) and Interagency Cooperation (Border Patrol, Transportation Ministry, etc.) (3) International Cooperation (Bilateral, Multilateral, Regional, NATO/Pfp); (4) Problem of Port Security-now in Transport Ministry; (5) Excess Infrastructure; (6) Dangerous ammo (excess and storage); (7) Personnel: Pay, living conditions, weak and undermanned Non-Commissioned corps, need for professional career paths and training, and need for a pension system; (8) Poor logistics/spare parts support; (9) Legal/legislative basis for maritime security; (10) Financial support-budget links.

　

 I have learned a number of lessons already in this year as Senior Advisor to the Albanian Navy, many with possible relevance to some Asia Pacific maritime forces. First, the impact-on policy, strategic culture, and finances/budget)--of a state's historical legacy is very significant and must be borne in mind. Second, the many challenges facing modernizing nations in the maritime realm can overwhelm them-there is a critical need to prioritize and then to adhere to a plan.

 Third, the priority need for the Navy is to get operational. Fourth, there is a need to establish realistic Force Structure (re-equipment) programs-and to be wary of the hidden costs/suitability of "donated" boats. Fifth, there is a need to address dangerous problems of excess ammunition and its storage. Sixth, there is a need for change in the organizational culture regarding personnel-particularly in building modern, professional officers and Non-Commissioned Officers. Seventh, financial/budget limits are often too tight and inconsistent with the demands that governments place on the same forces that they are underfunding. Finally, there is the personal lesson of humility, as one observes the hard work of professionals who persist each day in giving their best efforts to their country's maritime security despite very limited budgets and equipment.

　

　

 Although distant in geography from the Asia Pacific region, the task in Albania of restructuring and modernization of maritime forces provides an interesting and instructive case study with much applicability to Asia Pacific developing countries. For the past half year, the author has faced these restructuring challenges every day as the Senior Naval Advisor on SAIC's Defense Modernization and Restructuring team in the Albanian Ministry of Defense in Tirana. Such restructuring of maritime forces, in Albania and in many Asia Pacific countries, is essential to deal with today's challenges to maritime security. These challenges include such non-traditional and civil maritime/maritime law enforcement challenges as illegal trafficking (in drugs, people, and goods), marine environmental protection, maritime and coastal surveillance, fisheries protection, and marine navigation safety, in addition to more traditional military maritime defense missions. In Albania, these challenges required a significant transformation of the Albanian Navy, which is being guided by the Albanian Navy Transformation Roadmap developed by the author. This roadmap has four key elements-the Albanian Maritime Strategy (including Missions, Concept of Operations, and Priorities), a Force Structure Plan, an Infrastructure Plan, and an Organizational Alignment Plan. Many of the major issues being addressed in this Albanian Navy Transformation Plan have much relevance to Asia Pacific maritime forces. Indeed, the geographic scope of responsibility of most Asia Pacific maritime forces is much greater than the 362 kilometers of coastline in Albania. Also instructive for the Asia Pacific maritime context are several of the personal observations and lessons learned in the process of developing and implementing this Albanian Navy Transformation Roadmap.

　

 The task in Albania, as in many Asia Pacific countries, is the restructuring and modernization of maritime forces¹ essential to deal with today's challenges to maritime security. Today's challenges increasingly include more non-traditional and civil maritime a/maritime law enforcement threats such as illegal trafficking (in drugs, people, and goods), marine environmental protection, maritime and coastal surveillance, fisheries protection, and marine navigation safety. These challenges, and the new post-Cold War global security environment, not to mention the heightened threats of maritime piracy and maritime terrorism, add new dimensions to the more traditional military maritime defense missions. Restructuring and modernization of maritime forces to deal with today's challenges is no simple matter for any country, and even more difficult for many developing countries which, like Albania, face other pressing demands for limited resources.² Despite this difficulty, after required changes, maritime forces can and should be more effective and better adapted to current missions-but only if the priorities and details of such transformation are correctly planned and implemented.

 In Albania, the start point-today's Albanian maritime forces-reflected a unique historical legacy.³ The end goal of transformation for the Albanian Navy was a future Objective Maritime Force, adapted to Albania's new role as it becomes a full NATO member by the end of this decade. Any country's historical legacy may influence significantly current attempts to transform its maritime forces. Albania was a Warsaw Pact ally of the Soviet union from 1945 until the early 1960s, then the sole European ally of Maoist China through the mid-1970s, followed by a break with China and total isolation until 1991. These unique Albanian sets of relationships resulted in political, economic, and military isolation from the rest of Europe and even from neighboring Adriatic and Balkan countries such as (the former) Yugoslavia, Greece, and Italy. The military legacy of Albania, particularly after the break with China in the mid-1970s, was one of isolationist self-reliance with high military spending centered on the land forces and three-quarter million pillboxes for manning in mass-mobilized "people's defense".

 A significant maritime legacy of Albania's mixed alliances, still present today, is the presence of two 1960-vintage ex-Soviet Ocean Minesweepers and a large ex-Soviet Kronstadt-class Patrol Craft, as well as several ex-Chinese Large Fast Attack Boats (Shanghai-II class gunboats), and a couple remaining (of several dozen originally provided) ex-Chinese Huchuan-class Hydrofoil Torpedo Boats. These former Soviet and Chinese vessels still constitute the six larger warships of the Albanian Navy, organized in two Navy "Battle Groups", one in each of the two major homeport bases of the Albanian Navy in Durres and Vlora. As all these remaining obsolete ex-Soviet and ex-Chinese vessels must be retired by 2008, a particular challenge for the near-term for the Albanian Navy is their replacement by newer Large Offshore Patrol Ships.

 Albania's more recent historical legacy centers on the opening and democratization of the country beginning in 1991. The past dozen years also saw a massive popular uprising in 1997 against the elected government (following the collapse of a financial pyramid scheme in which most Albanians lost most or all of their savings). A United Nations mandated peacekeeping force, led and mostly manned by Italy, eventually helped restore order. This uprising looted military bases and armories, destroyed naval facilities, and even sunk several ships at their piers before order was restored. External to Albania, the Balkan region since 1991 has been a very dangerous and unstable regional neighborhood, with the wars of independence from Yugoslavia and ethnic wars in former Yugoslavia. Most notable for Albania was the suppression by Serbia, and the resulting uprising, of the large Albanian majority population of the Serbian province of Kosovo. This resulted eventually in the NATO-led war on Serbia in 1999 and the United Nations administration of Kosovo since then. This conflict brought to Albania a battalion-size NATO rear area support headquarters (which remains to this day) and airfield and road improvements for the NATO staging and transport route through Albania to Kosovo. The massive outpouring across the Adriatic Sea of illegal immigrants from Albania, intensified especially by the internal instability in 1997, as well as the smuggling of illegal drugs and goods, led Italy to assist Albania (continuing to this day) with military experts and the deployment to Albanian ports of Italian Coast Guard and Guardia Finanza patrol boats. In the maritime area, since the early 1990s, the United States (and other NATO countries) have provided training assistance to rebuild some of the basing infrastructure and to replace vessels destroyed in the 1997 uprising. In 1999, the United States provided Albania with three 65-ft Patrol Boats and two 42-ft Patrol Boats, and since 2002, Italy has provided six local Patrol Boats, and six smaller Inshore Patrol Boats. These seventeen newer ex-US and ex-Italian boats, along with the six obsolete ex-Soviet and ex-Chinese larger Navy boats (all to be decommissioned by 2008) form today's Albanian maritime forces.

 A final historical legacy of more recent vintage and impact for Albania's maritime forces is the listing of "Navy Forces" missions in the Albanian Military Strategy law of 2002 and the listing of "Coast Guard" missions in the Albanian Coast Guard Law of 2002. This latter law established an Albanian Coast Guard "as part of Navy structure...equipped with vessels that are assigned in the Navy organizational structure."⁴ The result of these recent two different laws listing missions was a confusing maritime legal and institutional structure, and two long lists of confusing and often overlapping maritime missions.

　

 As a result of Albania's changed geostrategic, regional, and domestic context, a complete transformation of the Albanian Navy was required. This transformation would have to begin with a Maritime Strategy to address today's challenges to the Navy by clarifying missions and establishing the Concept of Operations to carry out these missions. The goal, as noted earlier, was to rapidly move to meet current maritime responsibilities as a NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) program member today, and to be ready to assume its maritime duties as a full member of NATO by the end of this decade. Force structure had to be revamped to add some Large Offshore Patrol Ships to replace the retiring larger (ex-Soviet and ex-Chinese) Navy boats and to supplement the five (ex-US) mid-range Patrol Boats and the twelve (ex-Italian) shorter range3 coastal patrol boats. Infrastructure (bases and depots) would have to be consolidated and modernized to support this force. Finally, an Organizational Alignment Plan was needed to ensure that functional areas (such as personnel, training, logistics, and maintenance) were supportive of the new maritime forces.

 All of these four basic requirements to transform the Albanian Navy had to be developed within tight constraints, both political and financial. Politically, Albania is a fragile new democracy, with pressing economic, social, and public order priorities in additional to the needs for military transformation. Financially, Albania's current military budget is 1.4% of GDP, totaling US $107 million a year (of which only $7 million is Navy budget). In comparison, the Pentagon in the United States spends an amount equal to the entire military budget of Albania about every two hours!

　

 With these observations and constraints in mind, and following visits to all Albanian vessels and facilities, and extensive discussions with Albanian naval and joint leadership, the author developed the Albanian Navy Transformation Roadmap document in August 2004. This document was briefed to the Chief and Deputy Chief of Defense, Navy Chief, and Defense Minister of Albania, and approved by all as the guiding basis for subsequent Albanian Navy development.

 The Albanian Navy Transformation Roadmap began by establishing three simple priorities-Get Operational (Now), Get Re-Equipped (As soon as possible), and Get Re-Organized (As required). This Roadmap consists of four key elements:

　

 During the preparation, approval, and subsequent initial implementation of the Albanian Navy Transformation Roadmap, a number of major issues emerged. Similar issues often face Asia Pacific maritime forces as they seek to transform to meet today's maritime challenges. These issues are listed and briefly discussed below:

　

 With these major issues in mind, a number of personal observations result from my experience as Senior Naval Advisor in Albania, in striving to help develop maritime forces capable of meeting current and future challenges. These lessons learned may have considerable applicability to Asia Pacific countries, many of which also are developing countries, often with a much greater geographic area of maritime responsibilities.