Non-Traditional Threats and Maritime Domain Awareness in the Tri-Border Area of Southeast Asia

The tri-border area (TBA) between the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia is a key hub of terrorist and related criminal activity in Southeast Asia, a well-known transit zone for weapons and explosives, and a principal logistical corridor for local and transnational terrorist groups. The authors analyze the security environment in the TBA; evaluate the Philippines' Coast Watch System, designed to improve maritime domain awareness in the Philippine archipelago; and examine the challenges the system must overcome. Finally, they consider the prospects for forming an integrated system of maritime security that would tie together the three states that converge in the TBA.