Dolphin-Safe Naval Base

The US Navy is considering the deployment of extra troops to a military installation in Washington state. The troops in question? Dozens of trained dolphins and sea lions.

Apparently, the US Navy feels it needs to tighten security at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, located on the Puget Sound close to Seattle. The reason for this? The base is good to submarines, ships and laboratories and is potentially vulnerable to attack by terrorist swimmers and scuba divers.

Dolphins? Sea lions? Terrorist scuba divers? This is starting to sound like a bad, low-budget action flick, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security. And just what classifies a certain location "potentially vulnerable" to terrorist attacks? Thus far its been mass transportation (London, Madrid), symbols of capitalism (The Twin Towers) and western democracy (notably American symbols and buildings, such as embassies, the Pentagon, etc.), crowded areas (markets in Iraq, night clubs in Bali, hotels in Egypt and Syria), and American soldiers (Middle East). The difference between terrorists targeting 'soft' targets, such as civilian buildings and civilians in general is to incite fear into people, whereas terrorists attack American soldiers and their bases abroad to undermine America's presence and influence in the region. I do not see a terrorist attack on an American military installation very plausible within the United States, mainly due to their sheer size, and the fact that such an attack would involve planning on a scale never seen before. Sure, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, but has anyone heard of Al-Qaeda possessing a fleet of aircraft carriers, destroyers and bombers? It's really just doesn't seem like it world happen, especially as you consider that most terrorist attacks have been committed by only a few people at a time.

And now Americans and the whole western world with them is supposed to be on the lookout for terrorist scuba divers? I wouldn't be surprised if next you hear that DHS is going to start complying a list of all licenced scuba divers in the States, whilst the Transport Security Agency (TSA) adds "Have you ever swam with a bomb with intent to blow something up, or have you ever been trained as a suicide swimmer by a terrorist organization" to their list of 'Tick Yes or No to the following questions (ticking a single yes will result in many many questions, while Bubba stripsearches you)' form which every visitor must fill out upon entry to the USA.

Then again, keep in mind that the use of sea mammals by the US Military is not a new scheme. The US Navy actually has a program called the Marine Mammal Program that's been training California sea lions and Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins since the 1960's and has a small army of them numbering some 100. The "troops" have seen action as recently as 2003, when they were deployed to the Iraqi harbor of Umm Qasr to detect underwater mines.

Naturally, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has expressed their concerns with the use of there sea mammals by the US Navy for such tasks...

Now that I think about it, this whole use of dolphins and sea lions by the Navy kinda sounds like a crazy Cold War-era defence scheme, one from the more bizarre extreme. Come to think of it, the program is a relic of the Cold War. No wonder it sounds so loony...

Source:
Dolphins may protect the nation, one fin at a time - CNN.com [ http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/12/dolphins.sealions.ap/index.html ]