A case would appear to have been made for an urgent and thorough investigation into claims of likely sabotage of GT&T’s Americas 11 cable on Thursday July 2, the same day on which the 30th Caricom Heads of Government Summit was due to begin in Georgetown.
Last week was not the first time that GT&T has suggested that damage to the cable appeared to have been the work of saboteurs rather than vandals and while some of the previous claims have been relatively muted, this time around Major General (ret’d) Singh went to some lengths both to make the point about likely sabotage and to underscore his concern about the national security implications of the practice.
What has arisen out of GT&T’s investigation is that the damage to the cable was inflicted by people who went to some trouble to do what they did and that they were even required to use a vehicle, apparently a tractor, to rip the cable from its moorings. All this in circumstances where there was no financial gain to be realised from disrupting the cable.
If the motives for the disabling of the cable ought not to derive from speculation, it would, equally, be unwise, to say the least, to ignore the obvious security implications to which Major General (ret’d) Singh alluded.
GT&T is on record as saying that the police have been notified about the incident and that the matter is being investigated. A company source told this newspaper that the scale of the disruption at the site and what appears to be evidence that was left behind could help the police make a clear determination as to whether or not the occurrence was a deliberate act.
The fact that the most recent disruption occurred during the 30th regular meeting of the Caribbean Community Heads of Government Conference – when the demand for international telecommunications traffic would have been greater than usual and when the company’s ability to provide that service would have been very much under scrutiny – would, understandably, cause GT&T to feel that it was as much its reputation as a service provider as its infrastructure that was targeted; and while the company was able to save the day through its redundancy capacity, that does not assuage what remains a serious concern that a facility that is as important as the Americas 11 cable remains vulnerable to disruption, whether by vandals or by saboteurs.
GT&T has gone to great lengths to make the point that it is impossible to institute a policing arrangement that protects its entire infrastructure and has made the point that it is really up to the users of its services, in large measure, to perform that policing function. Whether, in the circumstances, this is enough to provide the necessary protection – particularly if the installations are indeed being targeted by skilled and determined saboteurs – is highly questionable and a point may now have been reached where the country’s security forces may have to become more involved in protecting what, after all, is a critical national infrastructure.
What is clearly necessary – and immediately so – given the robustness of Major General (ret’d) Singh’s assertion is that there be a thorough investigation into the claims of sabotage if only to arrive at an independent determination that whoever is perpetrating these acts is seeking to do much more than simply further escalate what GT&T says is the already high cost of fixing this kind of damage.
Significantly, Major General (ret’d) Singh appeared to be no less concerned over the national security implications of the disruption than he was over the cost of fixing the damage and one suspects that in making that particular point he may have been sending a message that we ignore these disruptions at our own peril.
