Realities of calibrating terrorism threats: [Re]Learning from three maritime events

Given recent high-profile terrorist attacks it might not seem surprising that there has been an increase in concerns over Terrorist attacks, calls for effective prevention and descriptions of the current situation being `new?. As is common with Managing Risks, however, this significant mismatch between perceptions of risks and the actual levels of risk threatens to lead to: ? under/over-estimating specific threats ? potentially inappropriate initiatives ? lost opportunities to, truly, understand what is driving perceptions Cogent evaluation, from BBC?s ?More or Less? through to the Global Terrorism Database graphics on the Statista portal, is not gaining the ascendency; hence, this presentation seeks to (re)learn from three significant, but oft-forgotten maritime events: ? [1862-4] CSS Alabama voyages: triggering Alabama Claims and Britain?s 15.5m. compensation, to USA ? [1961] Santa Maria cruise ship hijacking and coup attempt(s): triggering an international search, plus legal and political changes ? [1970s] QE2 cruise-liner: multiple terrorist attacks and use by terrorists