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The experience of coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has brought to the fore of
public consciousness the issue of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Of course
those who experienced Northern Ireland as well as countless other counterterror/
insurgency campaigns will testify to the fact that the IED was not invented by
the opposition in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Notwithstanding this notoriety, the
subject of the Maritime Improvised Explosive Device (MIED)1 is rather less well
known, particularly among the public and indeed, many practitioners in the field have
often overlooked just how much has been done with MIEDs thus far. This paper
seeks to place in the public domain a basic history and appraisal of the use of MIEDs
in the recent past.
Maritime terrorism is closely linked to the matter of MIEDs; but the incidence of
terrorism at sea represents only 2% of all terror attacks in the past 30 years.2
However, that should not make us complacent, “Because of the requirement to
capture headlines, terrorists are under constant pressure to do something new.”3
There are a number of reasons why terrorists do not generally use the maritime
environment. These include the following: