After suspicious incidents, NATO works to protect undersea infrastructure – By Sam Skove (Defense One) / Nov 13, 2023
Joint Forces Command leader has also been monitoring Russian activity in the Arctic.
NATO is working to strengthen its members’ abilities to defend their underwater infrastructure following a series of incidents that have damaged pipelines and communications cables, an alliance commander said.
“There are well-proven capabilities that are designed to attack that infrastructure. Some nations have the ability to interact [with that infrastructure] in very, very, very remote parts of the world,” Royal Navy Rear Adm. Tim Henry, deputy commander of the alliance’s Joint Force Command Norfolk, said in an interview.
As much as 95 percent of the world’s data passes through underwater cables, with some of the oldest connecting the United States and Canada to their NATO partners in Europe. Fishing vessels and commercial vessels occasionally cut such cables, as occurred in October 2022 near Scotland.
