Sea Control - Sea Control 358 - Information Fusion Center Singapore with Cdr Jeremy Bachelier (English Version)

Episode Date: June 30, 2022

Commander Jeremy Bachelier, the French Liaison Officer at the Information Fusion Center (IFC) in Singapore joins us to discuss the missions of the center and the IFC’s contribution to maritime security from the perspective of a French Liaison Officer. We also explore the current and future challenges to maritime security in the Indo-Pacific as well as the evolution in the types of threats to maritime security and the tools at the disposal of the local and international communities.

Hey folks, it's Jared. Alexia Boulaghi is back as your host this week for a dual French-English podcast. You are listening to the English version of that podcast. Her guest today is Commander Jeremy Bachelier of the French Navy, and they'll be discussing the Information Fusion Center in Singapore. Alexia also edited and produced this episode. I'd like to pause here to highlight some of our local chapters. Whether you're in Singapore, Lagos, Nigeria, Germany, the UK, Yokosuka, Japan, Chicago, or Newport, Rhode Island, chances are there's a SimSec local chapter near you.

You can find a full listing of local chapters and contact information on our website at simsec.org, so if you're interested, please reach out and get involved. Finally, I want to take the opportunity to recommend our partners in the SimSec Podcast Network, the Bilge Bums. You can find Alex, Jamie, Drack, and a pile of Iron Brew bottles wherever you download your podcasts. And with that, Kimber's Men. You're listening to Sea Control, hosted by the Center for International Maritime Technology. Hello everyone, hello shipmates, and welcome back aboard Sea Control. Today I'm joined by Commander Jeremy Bachelier, and we are going to be discussing the challenges to maritime security in the Pacific,

the contribution of the Information Fusion Centre and France's contribution to it. Commander Jeremy Bachelier, welcome. Could you please first introduce yourself to our audience? Yes, so good afternoon, Alexia. First of all, let me thank CIMSEC for this great opportunity today. In order to introduce myself, I have been a French Navy officer for now 23 years. My responsibilities were essentially operational since I was embarked for 14 years on eight different warships. So today I am here in Singapore as a regional French Legion officer, first as a representative for ALPACI, which is the Admiral in charge of the operations in the Asia-Pacific.

I am also the regional representative in South-East Asia Seas for the MICA Center, the Maritime Security Center for the French Navy. I am also the French legal officer for the U.S. Task Force 73, in charge of the logistics for the 7th Fleet, for the IFC also, the Information Fusion Center, Maritime Security Center, bringing together 19 countries. And finally, of the RHCC, which is the Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Center here in Singapore. Thanks a lot to you for being here. And as a reminder, all opinions are our own and not reflective of any institution with which we may be otherwise associated. So first, to begin with, Commander, could you please talk to us about your position and your role within the IFC? And what is the role of liaison officer? Yes. So first of all, I would like to highlight that, you know, the first Asian officer on the IFC was a French one in 2009, a few weeks after the official beginning of the IFC.

So this demonstrates both the trust and the close ties that you need our countries, but also the importance given by France to the challenges of maritime security in the Indo-Pacific. So the IFC is a regional center for the maritime security, whose primary objective is to obtain a global view of all the maritime events in order to work on some analysis, trends and conclusions regarding the types, the locations, the frequency or modus operandi of all the illegal activities in this area. This makes it possible to be able to inform and to orient national agencies in charge of the maritime security in their respective territorial waters or EEZs. This allows also to ensure that the maritime industry, with which we work very closely, is able to take all the internal protection measures adapted to the crossed areas. So the liaison officers bring with them unique professional and operational experiences. and a great understanding of the issues and sensitivities in their own waters, which enriches the quality of the products and the understanding of the regional perceptions. So the IFC can be considered, in my opinion, as a bridge allowing maritime players both to talk to each other,

but also to enrich each other regarding the maritime knowledge. Each of the liaison officers provides and receives information, which allows everyone to better assimilate the regional trends in the particular context of the Southeast Asia Seas. The liaison officers regularly participate also in shipping company visits and discussions, as well as some high sea security exercise with real-time participation from Mexican vessels at sea. These opportunities help build mutual trust with the shippers for access to insider information and industry insights. Indeed, in a context where there is a growing need for collective action in response to collective problems, why was the IFC created and how does it operate and what are its goals?

I think it could be great if you can give us insights about that. Yeah, absolutely. So first of all, to ensure maritime security, information sharing is essential because no single agency has the all the information needed to have a comprehensive understanding of all the challenges and threats in the maritime domain. So the creation of the IFC in 2009

was the epilogue of a quest to better counter the sea robberies activities in the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Singapore. So the sea robbery made indeed a comeback, as you know, at the end of the 90s, with significant peaks, such as in 2003. So they had to react. It was not possible to keep such a situation. So first, there was the setting up of the Malacca Strait patrols in 2004, with coordinated but not joint patrols. Then the setting up of the regional cooperation agreement on combating PRC and armed robbery, RICAP in short. in 2006, and finally the IFC in 2009.

So with regard to our daily work, the IFC first seeks to merge the information coming from our liaison officers, from the maritime industry, but also all the information accessible in all the languages in open source. Then we have to analyze and to give sense to the information in the regional context of the South-East Asia Seas countries. So in Singapore, the IFC is working, for example, closely with the My Time and Ports Authority of Singapore, in short, MP in short,

and the Coast Guard Police in order to share information, but also to coordinate the operational response. So the navies, the Coast Guard, of all the other regional actors in these South-East Asia Seas are also informed through the liaison officers, And each of them participates in the search of the information coming from their own HQs and to the analysis in order to give the best understanding possible regarding the facts and the trends observed in this area. From a more practical point of view, the IFC publishes daily, weekly, monthly, half-yearly, yearly reports. And the IFC also organized quarterly meetings with the maritime community called Shared Awareness Meeting, SAM in short, with which the MICA Center, the French one, is associated by the IFC in order to introduce the Gulf of Guinea situation.

We organized also some biannual exercise called Maritime Information Sharing Exercise, MARICS in short, and the last exercise was organized in 2021 with more than 172 participants coming from 37 countries. We also organized some annual seminars in order to establish discussions or acculturation for some new officials coming in responsibilities in this Southeast Asia season, in order to give them the best possible picture about the maritime domain. So this seminar is organized by the IFC and by the RSCS, which is the fintech here in Singapore. And the seminar is named Regional Maritime Practitioner Program, RNPP. Very rich activities we can see there, but what can be the challenges of gathering such a large number of international Legion officers? I think there are 20 countries represented here, so is communication sometimes difficult? So, for the moment, we have only 20 countries currently represented in the IFC.

Even if many other countries have expressed their own interest in joining the IFC very soon, The fact is that due to the COVID-19 situation, it was quite difficult to establish any changes between HQs in order to put a liaison officer here. But the situation is now going better and should give the opportunity to extend the number of countries involved in the IFC. It's also observed that more and more, the liaison officers coming from the Coast Guards are increasingly joining the IFC. In addition to those coming from the navies. And we have, for example, three Coast Guard officers announced to come in the IFC in the coming months. With regard to the questions about the difficulties, I would like to answer that we can observe, obviously, the usual difficulties of any multinational centre here. with officers whose habits in terms of corporations may vary

or with some difficulties perhaps to have any freedom to share or to express any personal opinion because they are just here to share what is decided by their own HQ. More rarely rank differences between officers can also have cultural difficulties. So this is something we have to work with. But this is the goal of the IFC. At the end, we are just here to speak together, to understand each other and to be able at the

end to have the best possible analysis about what is going on in maritime domain. There may also be perhaps temporary diverging perceptions about an illegal activity which necessarily have impacts in our analysis work but which nevertheless remains marginal. So I think at the end the IFC is working quite well. Thank you, Commander. I'm interested in your assessment of the region. What do you think are the main threats to maritime security in the Asia-Pacific? Yeah, so I would like to start by recalling that the important increase worldwide regarding the maritime traffic over the past 20 years has been driven by Asia alone.

The transatlantic flow has indeed remained stable during the same period. So the ASEAN maritime space is therefore a maritime space of growing interest, which promotes international trade, but which at the same time promotes illegal activities such as piracy and theft, drug trafficking or cyber maritime at sea. So countries obviously compete for fisheries, energy resources in the same time, and all the countries are trying to protect their own resources and to protect their own sea lanes. So this is obviously something of a growing interest in the future due to the overall phishing activities and the fact that more and more there will be some difficulties to have access to the idiotic resources. So the maritime insecurity in this region, in my opinion,

is mainly linked to the drug trafficking, the serial robberying, the illegal phishing activities, which often feed off each other. If I had to classify them by order of interest, I think the main risk for the stability of this region lies in the illegal fishing activities in the South China Sea, in the Malacca Strait, but also in the Korean waters, or more broadly, wherever EEZ are disputed. The illegal fishing jeopardized the food security of entire communities as it contributes to the depletion of fishery resources and often pushes the fishing community towards criminal activities. Drug trafficking, I think, is quite important in this region, and this is something we have to keep in mind, whether it is heroin coming from Afghanistan, cocaine coming from Latin America, or the large regional flow of methamphetamine from the Golden Triangle through the Malacca Strait. Drug trafficking is an obvious source of revenue for organized crime and terrorism, and therefore needs to be fought vigorously. The serial robbery is still quite high also in Asia, even if this is only in the Singapore Strait or in a few ports,

such as Jakarta, Belawang, Dumai in Indonesia, or Manila, Batangas in the Philippines, or in Chittagong for Bangladesh. it represents a real risk for the shipowners, but also for the crew members. So the majority of incidents fail, perhaps also due to the increased force of all the stakeholders, especially of Singapore. So while this is quite important for players in the maritime industry, shipowners, operators, shutterers and insurers, the level of violence and the frequency of robbery activities remain quite low in this region. and there is not too much confrontations and not too much violence against the pro-members. So I would like also to mention the excessive exploitation of the fisheries resources in South-East Asia Seas, in particular in the absence of the regional fisheries organization to regulate the fishing activities,

but also the growing pollution of the seas, the reduction of the biodiversity, which could ultimately lead to growing instabilities in this region. Turning now to the answers and the ways of tackling these maritime threats, could you give us concrete examples of how the Information Fusion Centre has contributed to overall regional maritime security? Yeah, absolutely. So thanks to the cooperation between maritime actors, the IFC has been able to obtain some operational successes,

which are quite emblematic of the work carried out by the IFC. I just would like today to give two examples. The first one occurred in May 2016. It was a tanker named HiSUN-12, which was reported missing after its owner lost contact for more than 24 hours. So given the value of the cargo, the IFC knew that the insurance companies would require the cargo owner to install a secondary GPS tracker on board of the HiSUN-12. So we then convinced the cargo owner to give us access to the secondary tracker, which allowed the IFC to locate the vessel and to alert the Indonesian Navy, who managed to board and to apprehend the robbers and hate hours after receiving the alert by the IFC.

So this is a great example to show how important it is to work with the maritime industry through the IFC in order to have a very good operational response coming from the Navy of Indonesia in this case. The second example concerns a successful capture of the fishing vessel named STS-50 in April 2018, which was wanted by many countries as well as Interpol for some illegal fishing activities. So thanks to the information provided by the French Legion officer within the IFC, the IFC was finally able to locate and to track the STS-50 fishing vessel as it was transiting through the Indian Ocean. So the Indonesian liaison officer then provided regular updates to the Indonesian Navy, who then proceeded to capture VIN. So it was also, I think, a great example about the link of the IFC with Interpol, but also with all the partners of the IFC here, France, Indonesia.

They were able, through the IFC, to intervene and to capture the fishing vessel. Regarding your very interesting insight about all these issues, where do you think progress can be made to have more efficient tools to tackle rising challenges to maritime security? I think this is obviously in the satellite capacity, but we will find some solutions to some of our main difficulties in the maritime domain. A huge part of the Martian vessels in the South China Sea, for example, don't emit AIAS, which is, as you know,

system allowing ships to identify and geolocate themselves. So it is more and more necessary to complete this image, this picture, by other capacities such as those allowed by societies as unseen labs, which makes it possible to locate and track a ship with the passive emission. The future probably lies also in the artificial intelligence, making it possible to analyze the behavior of each ship, of each merchant vessel, and then make it possible to detect suspicious behavior that could underlie illegal activity. Some artificial intelligence tools are already in use, like in Singapore, with the Singapore Maritime Crisis Center, SMCC in short, for the fight against terrorism at sea. So this is, I think, a growing interest and something

which will be perhaps more and more important in the future for the Navy, the Coast Guard, and the maritime port authorities but it is above all I think through the human network that we'll be able to manage and to give sense to the challenges and threats so that's why this is exactly what we are trying to do through the IFC because at the end to have the information is good but to understand exactly what is going on and to give sense to all the data is more important at the end so maybe the podcast couldn't have started with that but france is a key power in the indo pacific it has a key role could you talk to us about this particular approach of france to the indo-pacific yeah of course first of all as a resident nations of the indo-pacific france has

obviously a lot of responsibilities towards its sovereign territories citizens since we must protect seven French overseas territories and EEZs distributed throughout all through the Indo-Pacific area, as well as 9 million square kilometers of EEZs, which is the first one in the Indo-Pacific, and almost 2 million citizens who live in the Indo-Pacific. So this is the first, I think, responsibility for France. Second, thanks to the prepositional forces in the area on our overseas territories, such has Abu Dhabi or Djibouti abroad. France has also a permanent presence of more than 7,000 soldiers and the capacity to frequently

deploy military resources and naval units to patrol and to intervene if necessary in order to cooperate with our regional partners and to implement the French and the European Union strategy. I want to remind here that seven French warships, including an amphibious task group and a submarine, were deployed in the South China Sea in 2021, which is quite important. As I mentioned also previously, France believes in a strong and shared MDA picture,

which is why we support all the IFCs in all the Indo-Pacific. France also contributes to the Indo-Pacific MDA issues through the MICA Centre. So this centre from the French Navy relies on the expertise and capacities provided by our own force commanders in the Indo-Pacific area, overseas or abroad, but also on the maritime industry, our diplomatic network of defense attachés,

and all our liaison officers and all the IFCs in the Indo-Pacific area. So lastly, France is committed to maintaining cooperation in the area of maritime security. In multiple international forums, France currently holds the presidency of the Indian Ocean Commission, as well as the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, IONS.

France has also recently joined the Indian Ocean Rim Association, EORA, and is a very, very active member of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium, WPNS. France is, however, ready to play a more important role in the maritime security architecture of the Indo-Pacific, as in the ASEAN Defense Minister Meeting Plus, ADEMEN Plus in short, or in RECAP. and we hope that we'll be able to join these two organizations very soon in the near future. So now I'd like to put the spotlight on a recent article by Geoffrey Thiel in Naval Institute. So he says that seas are in a state of crisis and humanity is running a very short time in which to rectify it. What do you think about it, Commander? So first of all, always interesting and instructive to read Geoffrey Thiel. It was a source of inspiration for me in the context of my academic work in La Sorbonne about the MD&D in the Indo-Pacific.

So always interesting to have a lecture coming from Geoffrey Thiel. So he's right to say that the sea is a permanent crisis area because everyone knows that from the sea can come hope and salvation in the near future when it comes to speak about food and energy security. This is, by the way, the reason why it's more and more essential to regulate access to the fisheries and energy resources. So this question of crisis at sea also reminds me of the action plan recently released by the Ministry of the Armed Forces of France regarding the deep seabed. The seabed is indeed still largely unknown,

but is rich in opportunities and prospects, especially for a country like France, which has a second, he said, my time domain in the world. So I believe that the challenge of tomorrow, in the next decades, will reside in the seabed. And the future crisis will concern more and more underwater resources, because they are difficult to monitor. The seabed is an area where the security and defense of our countries can be jeopardized. It is therefore essential to have an ambitious strategy in this area.

Submarine cables, for example, they are playing an increasingly important role worldwide. to the point that they now represent 98% of the global communication. So their integrity is paramount, and we have absolutely to have the capacity to protect this cable in the future. Very interesting points that we would like to dig deeper with you, Commander, but we are running out of time. So last question, if I may. So regarding the level of volatility and tension in the region,

Do you think the challenges we will face in the next few years are the same that we are facing now and we will still be able to protect international freedom at sea? This is a great question. I think a more global threat will obviously jeopardize the maritime domain in the future when we see climate change. and it will first affect the seas and their biodiversity. Human activities at sea, intense and sometimes illegal, have indeed already led to the acidification and the drop in oxygen levels. So concentrations of fish will then move more and more towards the high seas, depriving coastal communities of resources, jobs and herbal whole food. This will lead to increased competition for access to the fisheries resources,

particularly in the South China Sea where the access to the resources is already subject to many tensions so as natural disasters increase in number and intensity in this region, navies and coast guard will also need to play an increasing role in combating the effect

of the climate change to protect their own citizens and their own countries and especially in the archipelagic waters of Indonesia and Philippines navies and coast guard will also need to play a bigger role in monitoring marine protected areas, which are crucial for the protection of the biodiversity from human activities. And at the Peace Forum in Paris last year, the French Minister for the Armed Forces

made a commitment, along with many other international partners, to better prepare the navies to face the challenges of climate change, which awaits us while reducing our own environmental footprint. So it is also on this topic of the environmental security that France shared the last IONS symposium a few months ago. That's all the time we have for today. I'd like to thank my guest, Commander Jérémy Bachelier. Commander, where can we find you online and what are you working on next?

So I can be followed on my official Twitter account at francemarsec. Sadly, on my side, I will have to leave my current position here in Singapore in a few months, but I will be obviously pleased by another officer. On my side, I will work in a French think tank called IFRI in Paris as a naval officer for a few years. I will be at the same time attached to the strategy and policy office

of the French Navy Chief of Staff. I hope that I will have the opportunity to meet some of you in the future. So that's all for me today. Thanks a lot, Alexia. Thank you so much, Commander, and to our listeners, thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next time. I walked up to the powerhouse counter Way, hey, bully in the alley

There I met with Greasy Annie Bully down your shimbo now So help me, Bob, I'm bully in the alley Way, hey, bully in the alley Help me, Bob, I'm bully in the alley Bully down your shimbo now © BF-WATCH TV 2021