The Horn of Africa is today one of the most important hubs for maritime traffic in the world. Raw materials, including oil, leaving the nations of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East must pass through this area en route to Europe and the West. Three-quarters of the Earth is covered in water, and approximately eighty percent of global economic goods are transported via commercial ocean freight forwarders. The volume of maritime trade is highly congested in this region. Ships must pass through the Gulf of Aden and eventually reach the Mediterranean or proceed south from the Arabian Sea towards Africa's southern journey via the Indian Ocean. Piracy in the region has increased dramatically over the last decade, especially since Somalia and Yemen can be considered failed states. The lack of government involvement in cracking down on pirates' activities has indirectly allowed them to thrive. The vastness of the area, some two and a half billion square miles, is mostly uncontrolled. The scale of the problem posed by piracy pales in comparison to the size of the ocean in which they successfully operate. Discrepancies emerge in the strategic analysis of the security threat that piracy and terrorism actually pose in the Horn of Africa. The number of attacks that can be directly attributed to identified terrorist organizations is remarkably low. However, piracy against both private and commercial vessels has increased. In 2012, successful seizures of merchant ships by pirates were reduced from thirty-eight to twenty-one, according to the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). However, the same report shows a nearly 25% increase in the number of attempted attacks. On its official website, the International Maritime Organization...... middle of paper ......, 2009) Michael D. Greenberg, Peter Chalk, Henry H. Willis, Ivan Khilko, Davis S. Ortiz, “Maritime Terrorism: Risk and Responsibility,” (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2006) Rohan Gunaratna, “The Threat to the Maritime Sector: How Real is the Terrorist Threat?” in Modern Piracy and Maritime Terrorism: The Piracy Challenge for the 21st Century, ed. M.R. Haberfield et al. (Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2009) “Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships,” The International Maritime Organization, accessed March 26, 2014. .imo.org/OurWork/Security/PiracyArmedRobbery/Pages/ Default.aspx“Protecting Ships from Somali Pirates – The Navy against private security” Ed. Forbes, gCaptain, March 2013. Accessed March 26, 2014. http://www.forbes.com/sites/gcaptain/2013/03/11/protecting-ships-from-somali-pirates- the-navy-vs-private -security/