Modern Day Pirates

Actually they never went away, just been getting more press in this age of instant information, and maybe more bolder. From Townhall:

They no longer sail in captured English frigates nor do they fly the dreaded skull-and-crossbones, but seagoing pirates in the 21st century are just as terrifying and every bit as dangerous as the sword-wielding dandies who prowled the Spanish Main in the 17th and 18th centuries. And like their forebears of the Golden Age of Piracy (1692-1725), pirates today have the ability to impact national economies negatively, plus – in the modern world – they potentially are adding another dimension in which terrorist networks might freely move and operate. What’s worse, pirate attacks are increasing in terms of frequency and overt boldness.

The number of attacks are astonishing:

The London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) claims there were a total of 205 pirate attacks worldwide in the first nine months of 2005, and 251 such attacks in the same period for 2004.
Nowhere, save North American and most European coastal waters, is truly safe. But the seas off Indonesia, where 61 pirate attacks occurred in the first nine months of 2005, may well harbor the greatest infestation of pirates in the world.

This is a call for more cheap patrol craft such as the new LCS and Sea Fighter.