It is likely that Somali pirates will soon raise the level of lethal violence with the result that there will be “small wars” on the open sea, according to security expert Casey Christie. “Pirates will kill more people, including hostages and security officers” he warned. Christie, who is the managing director of Concept Tactical Worldwide, based in London, says this lethal escalation is a logical development of the way in which the pirate scourge is currently being handled by the international community. “For a long time the shipping lines were very reluctant to place armed men aboard their vessels for fear of an arms escalation race between the private security firms and the Somali pirates.