Today's transnational threats have the potential to inflict great harm on many nations. Thus, the security of the maritime domain requires comprehensive and cohesive efforts among the United States and many cooperating nations to protect the common interest in global maritime security. This Strategy describes how the United States Government will promote an international maritime security effort that will effectively and efficiently enhance the security of the maritime domain while preserving the freedom of the domain for legitimate pursuits.⁸

　

 This approach does not negate the United States' inherent right to self-defense or its right to act to protect its essential national security interests. Defending against enemies is the first and most fundamental commitment of the United States Government. Preeminent among our national security priorities is to take all necessary steps to prevent WMD from entering the country and to avert an attack on the homeland. This course of action must be undertaken while respecting the constitutional principles upon which the United States was founded.

　

 Three broad principles provide overarching guidance to this Strategy. First, preserving the freedom of the seas is a top national priority. The right of vessels to travel freely in international waters, engage in innocent and transit passage, and have access to ports is an essential element of national security. The free, continuing, unthreatened intercourse of nations is an essential global freedom and helps ensure the smooth operation of the world's economy.

　

 Second, the United States Government must facilitate and defend commerce to ensure this uninterrupted flow of shipping. The United States is a major trading nation, and its economy, environment, and social fabric are inextricably linked with the oceans and their resources. The adoption of a just-in-time delivery approach to shipping by most industries, rather than stockpiling or maintaining operating reserves of energy, raw materials, and key components, means that a disruption or slowing of the flow of almost any item can have widespread implications for the overall market, as well as upon the national economy.

　

 Third, the United States Government must facilitate the movement of desirable goods and people across our borders, while screening out dangerous people and material. There need not be an inherent conflict between the demand for security and the need for facilitating the travel and trade essential to continued economic growth. This Strategy redefines our fundamental task as one of good border management rather than one that pits security against economic well-being. Accomplishing that goal is more manageable to the extent that screening can occur before goods and people arrive at our physical borders.

　

 In keeping with these guiding principles, the deep-seated values enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, and applicable domestic and international law, the following objectives will guide the Nation's maritime security activities:

　

 This Strategy does not alter existing authorities or responsibilities of the department and agency heads, including their authorities to carry out operational activities or to provide or receive information. It does not impair or otherwise affect the authority of the Secretary of Defense over the Department of Defense, including the chain of command for military forces from the President and Commander-in-Chief, to the Secretary of Defense, to the commander of military forces, or military command and control procedures.

　

 Detect, deter, interdict, and defeat terrorist attacks, criminal acts, or hostile acts in the maritime domain, and prevent its unlawful exploitation for those purposes.

　

 The United States will prevent potential adversaries from attacking the maritime domain or committing unlawful acts there by monitoring and patrolling its maritime borders, maritime approaches, and exclusive economic zones, as well as high seas areas of national interest, and by stopping such activities at any stage of development or deployment. The United States will work to detect adversaries before they strike; to deny them safe haven in which to operate unobstructed; to block their freedom of movement between locations; to stop them from entering the United States; to identify, disrupt, and dismantle their financial infrastructure; and to take decisive action to eliminate the threat they pose. As part of this undertaking, the National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction and related presidential directives address the most serious of these threats, and outline plans and policies to execute timely, effective interdiction efforts against the proliferation of WMD, their delivery systems, and related materials, technologies, and expertise.

　

 The basis for effective prevention⁹ measures - operations and security programs - is awareness and threat knowledge, along with credible deterrent and interdiction capabilities. Without effective awareness of activities within the maritime domain, crucial opportunities for prevention or an early response can be lost. Awareness grants time and distance to detect, deter, interdict, and defeat adversaries - whether they are planning an operation, or are en route to attack or commit an unlawful act.

　

 Forces must be trained, equipped, and prepared to detect, deter, interdict, and defeat terrorists throughout the maritime domain. Some terrorist groups, however, commit terrorist acts without regard to their own personal risk. They will never be easily deterred. No amount of credible deterrent capability can guarantee that attacks by such groups will be prevented. If terrorists cannot be deterred by the layered maritime security, then they must be interdicted and defeated, preferably overseas.

　

 Protect maritime-related population centers, critical infrastructure, key resources, transportation systems, borders, harbors, ports, and coastal approaches in the maritime domain.

　

 The United States depends on networks of critical infrastructure¹⁰ -both physical networks such as the marine transportation system, and cyber networks such as interlinked computer operations systems. The ports, waterways, and shores of the maritime domain are lined with military facilities, nuclear power plants, locks, oil refineries, levees, passenger terminals, fuel tanks, pipelines, chemical plants, tunnels, cargo terminals, and bridges. Ports in particular have inherent security vulnerabilities: they are sprawling, easily accessible by water and land, close to crowded metropolitan areas, and interwoven with complex transportation networks. Port facilities, along with the ships and barges that transit port waterways, are especially vulnerable to tampering, theft, and unauthorized persons gaining entry to collect information and commit unlawful or hostile acts.

　

 The critical infrastructure and key resources of the maritime domain constitute a vital part of the complex systems necessary for public well-being, as well as economic and national security. They are essential for the free movement of passengers and goods throughout the world. Some physical and cyber assets, as well as associated infrastructure, also function as defense critical infrastructure, the availability of which must be constantly assured for national security operations worldwide. Beyond the immediate casualties, the consequences of an attack on one node of a critical infrastructure may include disruption of entire systems, significant damage to the economy, or the inability to project military forces. Protection of infrastructure networks must address individual elements, interconnecting systems, and their interdependencies.

　

 Protection of critical infrastructure and key resources is a shared responsibility of the public and private sectors. The Department of Homeland Security is the lead agency for the overall national effort to enhance the protection of critical infrastructure and key resources. Since it is impossible to protect all infrastructure and resources constantly, all levels of government and the private sector must collectively improve their defenses by conducting prudent risk management assessments to identify facilities that require physical or procedural security upgrades or those that are not likely targets.

　

 The Federal Government has three primary responsibilities in regard to this national effort: (1) to produce and distribute timely and accurate threat advisory and alert information and appropriate protective measures to State, local, and tribal governments and the private sector via a dedicated homeland security information network; (2) provide guidance and standards for reducing vulnerabilities; and (3) provide active, layered, and scalable security presence to protect from and deter attacks.

　

 Since private industry owns and operates the vast majority of the nation's critical infrastructure and key resources, owners and operators remain the first line of defense for their own facilities. They are responsible for increasing physical security and reducing the vulnerabilities of their property by conducting routine risk management planning, as well as investing in protective measures - e.g., staff authentication and credentialing, access control, and physical security of their fixed sites and cargoes - as a necessary business function.

　

 As security measures at ports of entry, land-border crossings, and airports become more robust, criminals and terrorists will increasingly consider the lengthy U.S. coastline with its miles of uninhabited areas as a less risky alternative for unlawful entry into the United States. The United States must therefore patrol, monitor, and exert unambiguous control over its maritime borders and maritime approaches. At-sea presence reassures U.S. citizens, deters adversaries and lawbreakers, provides better mobile surveillance coverage, adds to warning time, allows seizing the initiative to influence events at a distance, and facilitates the capability to surprise and engage adversaries well before they can cause harm to the United States.

　

　

 The United States must be prepared to minimize damage and expedite recovery¹¹ from a terrorist attack or other Incident of National Significance¹² that may occur in the maritime domain. Our experience dealing with the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina reinforces this key point. The response to such incidents is implemented through the comprehensive National Incident Management System, governed by the National Response Plan, which coordinates public and private sector efforts and brings to bear all required assets, including defense support of civil authorities.

　

 The public and private sectors must be ready to detect and rapidly identify WMD agents; react without endangering first responders; treat the injured; contain and minimize damage; rapidly reconstitute operations; and mitigate long-term hazards through effective decontamination measures. These actions will preserve life, property, the environment, and social, economic, and political structures, as well as restore order and essential services for those who live and work within the maritime domain.

　

 A terrorist attack or similarly disruptive Incident of National Significance involving the marine transportation system can cause a severe ripple effect on other modes of transportation, as well as have adverse economic or national security effects. From the onset of a maritime incident, Federal, State, local, and tribal authorities require the capability to assess the human and economic consequences in affected areas rapidly, and to calculate the effects that may radiate outward to affect other regional, national, or global interests. These entities must also develop and implement contingency procedures to ensure continuity of operations, essential public services, and the resumption or redirection of maritime commercial activities, including the prioritized movement of cargoes to mitigate the larger economic, social, and possibly national security effects of the incident. Recovery of critical infrastructure, resumption of the marine transportation system, and restoration of communities within the affected area must all occur simultaneously and expeditiously.

　

　

 The unlawful or hostile exploitation of the maritime domain also requires attention. The vulnerability is not just within U.S. territorial seas and internal waters. In the future, the United States can anticipate increased foreign fishing vessel incursions into its exclusive economic zones, which may have serious economic consequences for the United States. Protecting our living marine resources from unlawful or hostile damage has become a matter of national concern. Potential consequences of such damage include conflict and regional instability among nations over the control of marine resources to the detriment of all. The United States and other nations have a substantial economic and security interest in preserving the health and productive capacity of the oceans. We will continue to project a U.S. presence by monitoring and patrolling the United States' exclusive economic zones and certain high seas areas of national interest.

　

 Assisting regional partners to maintain the maritime sovereignty of their territorial seas and internal waters is a longstanding objective of the United States and contributes directly to the partners' economic development as well as their ability to combat unlawful or hostile exploitation by a variety of threats. For example, as a result of our active discussions with African partners, the United States is now appropriating funding for the implementation of border and coastal security initiatives along the tines of the former Africa Coastal Security (ACS) Program. Preventing unlawful or hostile exploitation of the maritime domain requires that nations collectively improve their capability to monitor activity throughout the domain, establish responsive decision-making architectures, enhance maritime interdiction capacity, develop effective policing protocols, and build intergovernmental cooperation. The United States, in cooperation with its allies, will lead an international effort to improve monitoring and enforcement capabilities through enhanced cooperation at the bilateral, regional, and global level.