Christian Bueger

Category Archives: Events and Presentations


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Expert hearing on critical maritime infrastructure protection in the EU

I had the honor to discuss the protection of critical maritime infrastructures in the EU at an expert hearing of the European Parliament’s Security and Defence Committee yesterday.

In my presentation, I highlighted how European seas are experiencing rapid infrastructure expansion driven by the green transition. While this development is crucial for our future, it also creates new vulnerabilities that require our attention.

Key takeaways from the discussion:
🔹 The Baltic Sea incidents should serve as a wake-up call for potential threats to maritime infrastructure across all EU seas
🔹 We’re seeing concerning developments in shadow fleet activities and potential sabotage acts
🔹 While NATO plays a dominant role, the EU needs to strengthen its capabilities
🔹 Current information sharing and surveillance systems are improving, but industry communication and repair capacities need enhancement

I proposed several recommendations for strengthening EU maritime security:
➡️ Mobilizing EMSA and EDA information sharing systems
➡️ Conducting dedicated EU maritime exercises
➡️ Harmonizing interpretations of UNCLOS across EU
➡️ Developing standardized procedures for handling security incidents
➡️ Strengthening EU-level investigation capabilities

The full recording is available here.


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A new site of naval diplomacy: The inaugural Aman Dialogue

Navies from the Indian Ocean region and beyond have a new maritime security forum: the Aman Dialogue. Linked to the bi-annual naval exercise Aman (Peace) by the Pakistani Navy, the new format continues the earlier maritime security conference held in Karachi with an extended scope.

At the 2025 inaugural edition, which I had the pleasure to attend, representatives of 60 states, including many European, African and even South Pacific nations met to discuss the future of maritime security. The Aman dialogue is an important forum for naval diplomacy, and agreeing on common understandings of the challenges at sea and how to respond to them.

What makes this forum truly remarkable is its ability to bring together diverse naval powers – including China, NATO member states, the United States, Iran, and Russia – all under one roof.

I had the pleasure to intervene with two talks at the event. I introduced the key insights of our recent UNIDIR report. Maritime security governance is in need of recalibration and better global strategy is needed. Mega trends, such as automation, digitalization, climate change, and the proliferation of new technologies also lead to new pressing challenges, such as maritime cyber security. In particular, small and developing state need assistance to cope with them.

As part of the closing session I argued for the importance of recognizing that maritime security means that there is a global responsibility to protect the oceans and maritime activities.

It was wonderful to engage with naval professionals from around the world and enjoy the hospitality of the Pakistani navy and its think tank – the National Institute for Maritime Affairs (NIMA).

The proceedings of the event are available on Youtube (day 1; day 2). A summary of my talk was published by Defence Web.


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First events in 2025

A wonderful start into the new year.

Kicking off, I had the pleasure to discuss the state of maritime security in the western Indian Ocean with Brendon J. Cannon, Jhinni Awotar, and Myriam Blin in a panel organized by Charles Telfair Centre – Mauritius’ leading think tank.

I had the pleasure to attend and contribute to a major meeting on the future of Maritime Domain Awareness organized by The Australian National University. Over a week we discussed how MDA can get stronger using new technologies, platforms and sensors. While our understanding of maritime activities and threats is improving, there is also a range of new challenges: threats to critical infrastructure or cyber security incidents need to be integrated into MDA and states in the Indian Ocean region need to pay more attention to them.

My thoughts from the MDA meeting and what it means for Sri Lanka, are covered in an interview that I did with the newspaper The Morning.

It was also fantastic to meet the 2025 class of my maritime security course. This year’s cohort will train maritime security analysis by developing recommendations for regional maritime security architectures.

Finally, ‘Understanding Maritime Security‘ is now available as Asian edition with Oxford University Press India. I hope the new edition (and reduced price) will make it more accessible to readers in India, Sri Lanka and elsewhere.


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News from the Western Indian Ocean maritime security. A visit to SHADE

🌊 The maritime security architecture in the Western Indian Ocean has developed new pace since the emergence of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping and the resurgence of Somali piracy activities last year. This week I attended the naval coordination SHADE conference in Bahrain, where these critical developments took center stage.

SHADE in full work mode

🤝 SHADE serves as a vital interface between the complex network of multinational and independent naval forces and the shipping industry. The EU’s Operation Atalanta and the US led Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) co-host this forum which has evolved from its original focus on piracy to become a comprehensive annual dialogue.

📊 It has now upscaled activities and launched three working groups dedicated to intelligence, information sharing, and operations. The key objectives are to give better advice to shipping, improve flow of information, and develop better emergency response coordination, including oil spill prevention.

SHADE is working towards what it calls a ‘Single Information Environment’. This could streamline information flow across the six information sharing centers focused on the region. A corner piece is a center started in 2024 – the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) – which supports the CMF.

The European Union’s continued commitment

🇪🇺 The European Union continues to demonstrate strong commitment to regional maritime security. Operation Atalanta’s mandate has been renewed for two years, and its sister operation, Aspides, is expected to be extended until 2026.

There are expectations that the two EU operations will be merged soon. Anticipating this merger, the EU has rebranded its information sharing center. It now runs under the name of Maritime Security Center Indian Ocean (MSCIO), serves both operations and has a brand new website.

CMF and regional contributions

🌏 CMF, which is organized in different task forces and remains focused on nonstate threats on the high seas, has expanded its membership significantly, turning it into an important umbrella organization under US leadership.

🌏 Regional leadership in maritime security has also grown impressively: India has emerged as a pivotal maritime security provider; the Indian Ocean Commission’s two centers have become key operational pillars, coordinating responses among Eastern African states; and the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCOC) has evolved into a more effective capacity building coordination mechanism.

⚓ As I highlighted in my presentation: Though this new momentum is encouraging, maritime security threats persist, and shipping attacks continue to pose challenges. Success requires sustained engagement and investment with a long-term perspective.


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On tour – Upcoming talks on maritime security

📢 Exciting News: Upcoming Talks on Maritime Security and Book Launch! 📚🌊

I’m thrilled to announce a series of talks I’ll be giving on maritime security as part of the launch of our new book, “Understanding Maritime Security.” Here’s where you can catch me in the coming weeks:

🇺🇸 28.10. – The Future of Maritime Security, book presentation, U.S. Naval War College, Newport
🇺🇸 29.10. – ‘Shadow Fleets and Critical Infrastructure: Maritime Security in the Baltic and North Sea’, Maritime Security Regime Roundtable, NATO Center of Excellence Combined Joined Operations from the Sea, Norfolk
🇵🇹 31.10. – The Environment on the Collective Maritime Security Agenda: Fighting Fishery Crime, VI Atlantic Centre Seminar, on “Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU Fishing) in the wide Atlantic”, Atlantic Center, Portuguese Navy, Lisbon.
🇵🇹 31.10. – Understanding Maritime Security, book presentation, University of Lisbon and online.
🇩🇪 6.11. – Understanding Maritime Security, book presentation, University of Hamburg.
🇨🇭 8.11. – ‘Securing the Seas: A Comprehensive Assessment of Global Maritime Security, report launch, UNIDIR, Geneva and online, register here.
🇬🇧 22.11. – The Future of Maritime Security, Book Launch and Roundtable, RUSI, London.
🇲🇺 26.11. – Pirates, Smugglers and Oil Spills: Maritime Security in the Western Indian Ocean, book launch and roundtable, Charles Telfair Center, Mauritius. register here.

Join me as we explore critical issues in maritime security, from shadow fleets and critical infrastructure to environmental challenges and the future of our oceans.

If you’re interested in maritime affairs, international relations, or environmental issues, I’d love to see you at one of these events. Let’s connect and discuss the future of our seas!


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Italian Seapower Symposium focuses on the seabed as new frontier

Italy hosts the most important European gathering of navies every two years. The 14th Transregional Seapower Symposium took place in Venice last week. 🚢

🌍 67 navies and over 50 heads of navies from across the globe attended and were joined by representatives from industry, academia and international organizations.

📅 The symposium started in 1996 as a meeting for the Mediterranean but soon assumed its current global profile and has been growing into a major global dialogue and agenda setting event.

🌊 This year’s iteration, which I had the pleasure to attend, was focused on the seabed as a new strategic frontier. For a number of years, and specifically since the 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea, Italy and its navy has been spearheading much of the discussion of how to respond to the new uncertainties at sea.

📺 The recording of the events is available on Youtube.

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Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue in New Delhi – Special Address

The Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue (IPRD) is one of the major strategic dialogue formats in India. Organized as a collaboration between the Indian Ministry of Defense, the Indian Navy and the National Maritime Foundation it focuses on the maritime domain.

One of the key purposes of the forum is to discuss the Indian maritime policy of SAGAR – Security and Growth for All in the Region – and advance its related action plan known as the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI).

NMF Leadership

I had the pleasure to attend the 2024 dialogue in October and to deliver one of the special addresses at the event. Here is the script of my talk which investigated the future of maritime security in the region:

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Building regional maritime security expertise – event in Singapore

Maritime Security depends on effective national capacities for law enforcement and surveillance as well as regional networks. Different approaches are used to help states to develop capacities and networks, including short term training courses and exercises.

This week I had the opportunity to participate in a seminar of an Australian capacity building initiative – the ASEAN Maritime Security Research Program.

✎ This program works with senior officials and allows them to conduct a 3 months research stay at the Australian centers for Sea Power and Air and Space Power. Participants develop a supervised research project on maritime security, participate in military interrelationship activities, such as base visits, and attend Australian multi national military gatherings. Many of the results of the research projects are published.

✎ Announced in 2018 at the Australia-ASEAN summit, 38 military officials from 8 ASEAN nations have participated in the program. Its main objectives are to develop national maritime security expertise, but also build trust, open channels of communication, share best practice and learn lessons, identify innovative solutions, and form a robust network of maritime security experts.

💡The program is noteworthy in the way that it emphasizes longevity and sustainable networks, but also for its focus on developing analytical and research skills, which is often undervalued in capacity building.

Australian organizers, Singapore, 28.8.2024
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Inside Naval Exercises: SEACAT in Singapore

Enhancing maritime domain awareness (MDA) is one of the corner stones of maritime security. Yet, it only works if countries develop a culture of sharing and collaboration across agencies and regional seas.

Practicing MDA through multi-national exercises is a key component of developing such a culture. As part of my ongoing research on the international practice of exercises, last week I had the opportunity to get some first hand experience of how the U.S. navy aims at advancing regional MDA . I participated in the exercise SEACAT 2024.

SEACAT is one of the oldest MDA exercises. Starting as a counter-terrorism exercise in 2002, it was focused on MDA through the 2016 Maritime Security Initiative, and was broadened to the Indo-Pacific in 2019. Over that history it has grown in size, with 2024 seeing more than 200 participants, including many from outside Southeast Asia. What happens at such exercises? What can be learned from them?

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Visit to the Information Fusion Center Singapore

The Information Fusion Center (IFC) of the Republic of Singapore Navy has been a pioneer in regional maritime domain awareness. It’s information products and fact sheets influence regional responses, it’s information sharing system connects agencies of the region, and the its international liaison officer system provides an important way of making sense of incoming incident data and triggering responses. With this architecture the IFC provides an important standard for how regions can advance their maritime surveillance, information sharing and maritime security cooperation.

Participants at the 2024 RMPP, Changi Naval Base, Singapore.
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