On Monday, March 8, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood formally released to Congress and to the public the "Blue Ribbon" Panel Report on the U.S Merchant Marine Academy. The report, commissioned in May 2009, examines the current U.S. Merchant Marine Academy facilities and provides advice to the Maritime Administration on the priority of future capital projects.

Last Saturday (3/6) federal agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's San Diego Maritime Unified Command arrested four Mexican citizens and seized over a ton of pot on Santa Rosa Island off the coast of Los Angeles.

The smugglers had been making their way from Mexico to southern California in a panga when they ran out of fuel and beached their boat on Santa Rosa. A U.S. Navy helicopter spotted the men and U.S. Customs and Border Protection marine interdiction agents made the arrest and seizure.

A 24-hour general strike in Greece on Thursday (3/11) is expected to seriously disrupt all forms of transportation including rail, sea and air.

The work stoppage, which begins at midnight Wednesday, will also shutdown most government offices and schools, and force hospitals to operate with emergency staffing only.

Suspected Somali pirates have hijacked a Kenyan-flagged fishing boat with 16 crewmembers. A spokesperson for the European Union's Atalanta anti-piracy naval mission told AFP that this vessel might be used as a "mother ship" from which pirates could launch their assaults.

Some pirate gangs are likely looking for new "mother ships" given that the French navy recently seized four of them.

President Obama plans to nominate Major General Robert A. Harding, U.S. Army (Retired), to head up the Transportation Security Administration.

The President's first nominee, Erroll Southers, withdrew from contention after Senate Republicans raised concerns he would try to unionize TSA's workforce.

Americans mainly associate TSA with airport security, but the agency is responsible for protecting the nation's entire transportation system including sea ports, railroads, highways and pipelines

The crew of a French Navy frigate operating as part of the EU's anti-piracy force captured 35 suspected pirates and seized four pirate "mother ships" off the coast of Somalia since last Friday (3/5).

The question now becomes what will happen to the alleged pirates? Most likely they will be either let loose, or turned over to Kenya or Somalia to face trial.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries are to begin their annual Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercises today in South Korea. And the purely defensive drills have once again brought condemnation and provocative rhetoric from North Korea.

The Korea Times reports that the North's official Korean Central Broadcasting Station labeled the drills as "hostile war games", and said, "Considering that they are nuclear war drills against the North in their nature, it will be inevitable for Pyongyang to discontinue its denuclearization process and bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense."