Maritime Security and Terrorist Travel Initiative 

The Initiative on Maritime Security and Terrorist Travel, launched in 2019, addresses potential vulnerabilities of the maritime sector and elaborates recommendations to prevent and interdict terrorist movement or associated smuggling or trafficking. The United States leads this Initiative, under the auspices of the GCTF Foreign Terrorist Fighter (FTF) Working Group. The T.M.C. Asser institute is the implementing partner. 

The Initiative culminated in the development of an Addendum to the GCTF New York Memorandum on Good Practices for Interdicting Terrorist Travel | Arabic | French | endorsed by Eleventh GCTF Ministerial Plenary Meeting in October 2021. The Addendum complements the GCTF New York Memorandum on Good Practices for Interdicting Terrorist Travel focusing on response actions in the maritime environment and provides additional recommended good practices for government and private sector partners to address and prevent potential terrorist misuse of the maritime sector.

Several activities will be conducted in 2022-2023 within the framework of this Initiative and under the auspices of the FTF Working Group, with the following objectives:

• Raising awareness of how terrorists currently seek to exploit the maritime sector for travel and operations;
• Increasing counterterrorism practitioners’ understanding of how relevant authorities, collaboration, and practices may contribute to countering terrorist travel in the maritime environment;
• Identifying efforts undertaken by GCTF Members, international and regional organizations, and other nations and partners to secure the maritime sector against misuse by terrorists, especially for potential travel; and
• Helping implement the Addendum to the New York Memorandum of good practices to enhance the applicability and effectiveness of counterterrorism and border security frameworks for maritime sector security.