Balkanalysis.com editor’s note: as southeastern Europe
continues to grapple with an unprecedented influx of illegal migrants
amidst an explosive regional security atmosphere, Greece’s coast guard
is again being called on to confront maritime security threats. The
following detailed survey provides a comprehensive overview of the Greek
Coast Guard, its structural and organizational make-up, fleet,
operations and related issues of current concern.
Readers of this article may also enjoy the authors’ previous e-book, Studies in Greek Security, 2006-2011.
By Ioannis Michaletos and Chris Deliso
The Greek (Hellenic) Coast Guard is often overlooked by both the
domestic and international media when it comes to security-related
affairs in the country.
Nevertheless it plays a crucial role in a host of major contemporary
security areas that affect globally-relevant issues, such as illegal
immigration, anti-narcotics operations, combating arms smuggling,
seizing counterfeit contraband and untaxed tobacco, among many other
different transnational illicit sectors.
In fact, considering the maritime nature of Greece, its coast guard
can be said to be the bulwark of Greece’s maritime defensive security
architecture. Indeed, it has more far-reaching responsibilities in many
cases than do the police or the intelligence structures, and it
complements the navy’s operation across a wide geographical area,
spanning from the Adriatic-Ionian seas to the Aegean and a large sector
of the Eastern Mediterranean which borders with Cyprus, Turkey on the
east and Egypt, Libya, Italy and Malta on the south and towards the
west.
The Greek Coast Guard: Mandate, Activities and Relative Size
The
Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG, in
Greek, Λιμενικό Σώμα-Ελληνική Ακτοφυλακή or Limeniko Soma-Elliniki
Aktofylaki or LS-ELAKT) was originally established in 1919, and since
then has developed into one of the largest such forces in the wider
region. It numbers 8,000 personnel spread across Greece, with dozens of
island stations and bases, and several diplomatic representatives in
Greek embassies and consulates a0broad. It has around 200 vessels and
over 10 helicopters and light aircraft.
Quite interestingly the Hellenic Coast Guard is administered by the
Maritime Affairs ministry (incorporated by the current government into a
Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism). Thus the
HCG is not institutionally related to the police or customs
administration- a fact that has led to occasional ‘turf related’
antagonistic relations. HCG authority extends also onshore, in ports
(where the Port Police falls under HCG control) and in any kind of
maritime installations, and covers the entire Greek seafront. This
extensive area is among the 10 largest national seafront areas in the
world.
On certain occasions, the Hellenic Coast Guard has exercised its
right to conduct surveillance and make arrests inside of urban centers-
and sometimes even without consulting local police forces.
In terms of size, Greece’s coast guard is larger both in proportion
and in actual numbers than its counterparts in neighboring countries.
Turkey’s coast guard boasts 5,500 personnel, for example, though it too
has an extensive coastline (and a population more than seven times that
of Greece). The HCG is in fact the second largest force of its kind in
the Mediterranean after than of Italy, which has a lengthy coastline,
11,000 personnel, and also a population six times greater than that of
Greece.
In fact, if the Greek coast guard was a separate navy, it would be
larger than the Bulgarian navy (4,000 personnel), Romanian navy (7,000
personnel), and almost the same as the Israeli and Portuguese navies
(8-9,000 personnel). On the other hand, the extensive and intricate
Greek coastline – among the largest in the world – the tremendous sea
traffic year-round and the existence of thousands of islands, contribute
to such an augmented force. Nevertheless, according to experts the
coast guard still needs a 25% boost in order to be able to cope with its
ever-increasing duties.
Scope and Structure of Activities
In order to better illustrate the significance of this force when
assessing Greek domestic security affairs, a basic outline of its
structure should be provided. By this an interested reader should
understand that it is modeled as a combination between a conventional
navy and police agency, with numerous civil duties as well.
The hierarchy starts with the head of the force, who is always a vice-admiral. He is complemented by 1
st and 2
nd
deputies, who are rear-admirals, and there is also the general
inspector, a rear-admiral as well. The directors of the specific
internal branches are all normally rear-admirals also.
Coast Guard Branch A could be considered the
operational one; it is composed of the directory of operations, port
control, fishery control, means and methods, border and state security
and anti-contraband operations. It is the branch which has the everyday
workload often portrayed in the media when hunting down criminals or
securing defense. It is also the one with intelligence and security
functions.
Coast Guard Branch B is specialized in maritime
affairs and is composed of the sector of international commercial
merchant marine, maritime security of the aforementioned, directory of
maritime labor affairs, maritime transportation directory, sea and
environmental protection and the commercial maritime education
directory.
Coast Guard Branch C is involved in regulatory
affairs, such as checks and regulations of organizations dealing with
maritime affairs, construction and maintenance of vessels, inspection of
the commercial maritime fleet, inspection of port and maritime
installations regarding safety.
Coast Guard Branch D deals with human resources and
management, having the directory of personnel, directory of training and
the communications management section.
Furthermore, there are a number of agencies directly subordinated to
the HCG chiefs of staff such as: general inspection, health issues
agency, airlifting, electronic border surveillance, special operation
forces, rescue service, maintenance agency, HCG schools and training
facilities and, not to be forgotten, its official musical troupe.
Moreover, the head of HCG is operating directly the Search and Rescue
Coordination Center (Enniaio Kentro Syntonismou Erevnas kai Diasomisis,
or EKSED) in Piraeus and the operations center (Kentro Epicheirision,
or KEPIX),which both in most cases involve coordination with air force,
navy or other military, as well as police units. The aviation units and
special forces are also directly operationally subordinated to the head
of the HCG.
There is also an
HCG Emergency Radio Communications Station SXE,
located at Aspropyrgos in Attica, and the Vessel Traffic Service
(VTMIS) around the ports of Piraeus, Elefsis, Lavrio and Rafina. The
latter was actually developed under government tender by a private Greek
company,
Intracom IT Services.
The coast guard uses military radars that are actually manned by the
navy. However, they are shared with the HCG, which on many occasions
receives data in real time, especially in the case of urgent operations.
The HCG includes nine peripheral administration commands that span
the breadth of the country, the most important one being the Piraeus
headquarters.
The coast guard is also responsible for regulating the nine Greek
state merchant marine colleges. They are located in Aspropyrgos, Hydra,
Kymi, Thessaloniki, Oinousses, Chios, Syros, Preveza, Chania and
Kefalonia.
During peacetime the HCG is subordinated to the ministry of maritime
affairs. However, at times of mobilization or war it falls under the
orders of the Hellenic Navy’s fleet command. Moreover, the coast guard
retains a military status on all occasions, which means that all
personnel are subject to military regulations and courts, not civilian
ones; this marks a notable difference from the police, for example.
Provenance and Types of Craft Used
The HCG has historically provided one of the most specialized and
important domestic markets for Greek shipbuilders, a traditional
industry that has unfortunately declined in recent years due to cheaper
foreign competition, which means that a number of the Greek-produced
boats are older and need to be replaced. Thus, not all of the vessels in
inventory are in everyday use.
The latest information indicates that procurement officers at the HCG
hope to acquire 16 new mid-range vessels, but no tender competition for
them has been announced as of yet. Presumably this is due to the
country’s general financial problems.
Out of Greece’s almost 200 HCG craft, around 160 are Greek-made.
Various models of Lambro, Olympic and other patrol boats, and numerous
RIB coastal patrol boats are included. Other vessels in use were
imported from Israel, Britain, Sweden, Holland and Spain. In 2004, the
United States donated several craft including the highly desirable
Boston Whaler (Guardian model)- a boat long known for its unique designs
and ‘unsinkable hull.’
As for Greek production, an HCG mainstay has been the Panther 57 Fast
Patrol Boat, an evolution of the Lambro models built by MotoMarine
(formerly, the Lambro company). Equipped with an M2 Browning machine
gun, this vessel is almost 60 feet long and can reach speeds of up to 44
knots. It has long been considered very effective for complex
operations.
From the air, the HCG has a small number of fixed-wing aircraft
stationed at Dekelia air base, just north of Athens. Its four AS 332
Super Puma helicopters, however, as based at Elefsis air base and use
mixed air force and coast guard crew.
Special Operations
The HCG traditionally places great importance on maintaining a
high-level and extensive S.O.F. structure, which is composed of two
elements.
The first one is the
Underwater Operations Unit (MYA),
which numbers around 100 personnel and was first created in the early
1970’s, having an official establishment in the early 1990’s. Their
tasks are similar to the units of the “Navy Seals” of the navy and are
related to anti-terrorism, close coordination with the armed forces’
SOF’s, VIP protection in sea and port environments, special rescue
operations, and special “raid type” operations in the maritime theater
of operation.
The whole issue of VIP protection in Greece is a fascinating one that
deserves a separate study, considering the variety of means of
transport within Greece, high density of private yachts, and the
presence of wealthy businessmen and Hollywood celebrities looking for a
low-key Greek vacation- often to the extent that they travel under false
identities and have phalanxes of private security. The HCG’s special
MYA unit, however, provides protection only for state and diplomatic
VIPs. For private individuals seeking such support, private local
security is available for hire, but they still need to get permission
from the HCG (or other state bodies when relevant) and getting this
permission is not always guaranteed. One exception regards events such
as international athletics, artistic competitions and anything else in
which the state has some involvement.
The MYA is based in the Agios Kosmas region of Athens. Training for
prospective candidates is almost identical to that of the navy, a
rigorous process lasting almost a year, and including specialization
courses. Every year, a large number of candidates don’t ‘make the cut,’
which again indicates the rigorousness of the training program.
A second force is the “Special Missions Detachments (Klimakio Idikon
Apostolon, KEA) which number around 300 personnel. These teams were
established in the mid-1980’s. Their tasks involve anti-contraband
operations, port security, maritime border patrols in the regions
neighboring Turkey and Albania, as well as bomb squad operations.
Both of the above forces cooperate strongly with the Greek Navy’s SOF
units and in essence augment the latter’s operational capabilities.
In recent years, stability has disintegrated in the MENA region. This
has helped create increasingly powerful multi-national criminal and
paramilitary organizations, and analysts have noted numerous and
somewhat ‘mysterious’ cases of the HCG seizing large weapons caches in
vessels transiting Greece, as well as large amounts of narcotics and
other contraband. However, the coast guard tends to be far more
secretive than, say, the police about providing sensitive information.
The HCG thus never discusses terrorism-related issues, whereas the
equivalent police directorate tends to be more eager to publicize such
cases.
International Cooperation
In recent years, several countries and organizations have had
cooperation with the HCG in various fields, such as the fight against
narcotics trafficking, training exercises for other countries, and
anti-illegal immigration operations together with them. Major joint
operations partners of the HCG working on a regular base include
FRONTEX, the Republic of Cyprus, and the Drug Enforcement Agency of the
US.
At various periods, the HCG has enjoyed participation in joint
exercises or provision of training with Albanian, Montenegrin, Georgian,
Egyptian, British, American, Spanish, French and Italian maritime
forces. In general, considering the rising tide of illegal immigration
from the MENA region and Greece’s increasing defense orientation to its
southern and southeastern flanks, we can expect cooperation with allied
countries in those areas to increase in line with the country’s general
defense doctrine.
It is interesting to note that even when far from home, the Greeks do
not forget their country’s vital maritime identity. This is not just a
matter of individual nostalgia, but actual state policy. There are thus
also 18 HCG attachés located around the world, having official
diplomatic status.
These attachés are located in Vancouver, Famagusta in Cyprus,
Hamburg, London, Marseilles, New York, Novorossiysk, Port Said,
Rotterdam, Santos, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, Houston, Perth, Panama
City, Dubai and Maracaibo. Their duties are to provide support for, and
to take care of anything related with the Greek merchant marine, which
conducts maritime trade globally and especially in the above areas.
The duties of these attachés also includes issuing necessary
documents on labor and health affairs, providing diplomatic support and
being the liaison points between the host country and the Greek maritime
sector. The existence of these coast guard official liaison positions
also enhances state capabilities to monitor trends in terrorism,
organized crime and foreign policies on maritime issues all of which can
impact on Greek national security.
Challenges Ahead for the Coast Guard
There are a number of challenges which need to be dealt with in
sectors where the HCG operates in future. A significant influx of
illegal immigrants and refugees by sea from the Turkish coast to the
Greek islands has reached alarming numbers, with more than 500 people
entering the country per day over the past three months. For an overview
of the issue read our previous article,
The Illegal Immigration in Greece: a Strategic Overview.
Concurrently, Libya’s gradual fall under the influence of Islamic
State’s loyalists and other similar groups is presenting a new threat
which requires a re-engineering of the whole defense system of not only
Greece, but also Italy and the European Union as a whole. For more
details on this risk, also read our
special report on Libya and Mediterranean security here.
Further, the overall surveillance of the seas surrounding Greece,
plus the internal sea lanes, are in constant need of pro-active
operations due to the large transit traffic of contraband weaponry
destined for war zones nearby, places such as Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen
and through the Black Sea as well. Another challenge is also the
trans-Atlantic cocaine smuggling traffic, eastern-route heroin trade,
plus tobacco and fuel smuggling at multiple points.
In the past, the HCG has played an important role in such operations.
One famous example was in 1997, when large-scale rioting in Albania led
to attempts at piracy against tourist yachts offshore the island of
Corfu. The HCG was very effective at that time, and the number of
Albanian traffickers’ speedboats using the trans-Adriatic route to Italy
was also reduced over time, due to Greek and Italian efforts. With the
current rhetoric from the government in Tirana over territorial waters
and hydrocarbons reserves off of Corfu, we can say that the HCG is at
very least keenly monitoring the area on a heightened level.
At the same time the budget restraints that are having a negative
effect overall for the Greek state also tend to limit the capability of
the HCG. To do its job, the HCG needs to have all-around operational
capacity, all the time, since the navy’s operations are very costly in
terms of manpower and fuel costs, and involve traversing distant
maritime regions.
A recent NPR report by Joanna Kakissis (“
On Patrol with the Greek Coast Guard”)
indicates the heavy burden currently placed on the HCG, due to totally
unrestrained immigration from Turkey into the Greek islands. As Defense
Minister Panos Kammenos recently underscored, Greece continues to be
Europe’s first line of border defense. However, in the absence of a
realistic EU policy, the country and its coast guard continue to do the
job almost unassisted.
Other types of challenges exist too.
A recent report by Giannis Souliotis in a leading Greek newspaper,
Kathimerini
noted that several coast guard officers had been implicated in a
corruption scheme of protecting human smugglers in the country, a charge
which if valid would result in an overhaul of the HCG. Since
immigration is an exceptionally sensitive issue presently, for the EU as
well, it would probably involve also a re-examination of the need for
more political oversight of HCG activities along with a broader
anti-corruption policy.
Lastly, the HCG has to battle with obligations in the civil sector
and most importantly, the large burden of work it has regarding the
regulatory affairs of the shipping sector and ports. In most countries
in the world, and especially in the EU, coast guards are police or
paramilitary forces and not related to bureaucratic affairs, since that
costs money and time and consumes the productivity of the force.
However, in Greece – historically famous for its excessive bureaucracy
in general – the coast guard is tied down with these cumbersome duties
as well, which limit its capacities and concentration on more urgent
issues.
Moreover, aside from time lost in shuffling papers, there is the fact
that corruption tends to increase when any law enforcement agency is
entrusted to deal on an everyday basis with mundane yet profitable
activities such as licensing, issuing permits and running audits. The
financial situation in Greece – which will inevitably sooner or later
lead to an overhaul of the entire public sector in the country – will
also certainly have effects in the mid-term on the structure and
operations of the HCG.
Recent HCG Operations, as Noted in Official Reports
The HCG communications department has despite the financial crisis
kept up a fairly good public information effort. Researchers (and the
general public) thus have an extensive supply of frequently updated
information on coast guard operations, courtesy of
the HCG’s official website (in Greek).
Some of the recent operations conducted by the HCG are listed here (in reverse chronological order). Note that these entries
represent less than two full days of work for the HCG at present levels of work; even these represent only the most urgent maritime operations, and do not count other activities.
6/8/15:
Migrants detained in Chios, Kalymnos and Lesvos
In early morning hours, some 40 illegal migrants arrested in
southeast of Chios island, and 45 more in Agia Fotia on the island. The
day before, 54 more migrants were discovered to the south, in Kalymnos
island. Also, large numbers of migrants were discovered in two motorized
dinghies off of Lesvos to the north and brought into Mytilini port by
the coast guard.
6/8/15:
Illegal migrants discovered near Kos and Chios
The HCG patrol boats discovered boats containing 12 and 20 illegal migrants off the coasts of Kos and Lesvos, respectively.
6/7/15:
Large numbers of illegal migrants discovered in Mytilini port, others in Chios, a death in Crete
Mytilini Port Authority discovered 249 undocumented migrants, while
40 more were discovered near Kardamyla in northeastern Chios, 28 of whom
were found on a rocky shore by salvage crews. Near Chania in Crete, a
60-year-old individual was found dead in the water and taken to Rethymno
Hospital for autopsy.
6/7/2015:
Illegal migrants discovered in Farmakonisi, Kos, Lesvos and Chios
On the northeastern coast of Farmakonisi, 33 undocumented migrants
were discovered by HCG. They will be transferred to Leros island, where
the port authority will carry out the preliminary investigation. Another
39 migrants were found in the same area and would also be transferred
to Leros for processing. In the sea area northeast of Kos, an HCG patrol
boat discovered an inflatable raft with a large number of migrants. In
Skala Kallonis port in Lesvos, meanwhile, 54 migrants were discovered by
the port authority. In Kardamyla, Chios another 43 migrants were
discovered. Finally, in the island of Inousses, east of Chios, military
observation identified three boats carrying 109 migrants. They were
transferred by the HCG to Chios.
6/7/2015:
More migrants discovered in Farmakonisi and Kos, ship captain arrested in Milos
In the early morning hours, 46 migrants were found at Farmakonisi
wharf, and later another 43 were detected in the northeast of the
island. They will be transferred to Leros. Meanwhile 42 migrants were
discovered in an inflatable raft off of Kos and were brought into
harbor. Also, the captain of the vessel ‘Anastasia’ was detailed over
certifications irregularities by the port authority of Milos, after
arriving in harbor. Finally, the captain of the ship Kapetan Georgios
was detained in Palaiokastritsa, due to an irregular passenger total.
6/7/15:
Migrants discovered in Samos, Agathonisi and Kos
In Samos, 50 illegal migrants were discovered by HCG in the
Poseidonas area of Samos, and another three were found separately and
brought in to Pythagorio. Also brought to this harbor were 47 more
migrants found at sea by an HCG patrol boat. Near the wharf on Kos, 44
additional migrants were detained. A patrol boat discovered 38 more
migrants off of Kos and brought them into port.
