Commander Thomas Scalabre

Commander Thomas Scalabre, the new commanding officer of the MICA Center, joined the Naval Academy in September 1998. At the end of the « Jeanne D’arc » compaign, he joined the submarine forces as officer in charge of the strategic launch system for nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN). He has naviguate during almost 20,000 hours diving on SSBN and nuclear attack submarines (SSN). After graduating from the « Ecole de Guerre » in 2017, he joined the Navy special forces staff in Lorient (ALFUSCO). His operational career then took him to Brest, where he was head of naval air operations in the Atlantic, then deputy head of the CECLANT 1 operations division. He is in charge of french maritime operation in the whole Atlantic and Arctic Ocean and also of coast-guard operation including counter narcotrafic operation.

Commander Thomas Scalabre is Knight of the Legion of Honor and Knight of the National Order of Merit.

The MICA Center is France’s center of expertise dedicated to maritime security, with global competence. It was created in June 2016 to promote the exchange of information between state and civil actors, in the face of threats to the maritime world and particularly, at the time, in the Gulf of Guinea.

Based in Brest, it comprises 30 sailors from the French Navy, supported by 25 reservists. In addition, some ten navy personnel from partner countries (Spain, Belgium, Portugal, etc.) work at the MSCHOA, 2 a maritime security center dedicated to supporting EU operations in the Indian Ocean.

The MICA Center is constantly on the lookout to record, verify and analyze maritime events (piracy, human trafficking, drug trafficking and, more recently, the spillover of conflicts at sea, notably the attacks carried out in the Red Sea by the Houthis).

For each significant security event, it alerts allied navies to facilitate their intervention, as well as nearby ships to counter the dangers. In the specific case of piracy, MICA maintains direct contact with the attacked vessel until it is rescued. It also provides ships and their owners with personalized security assessments of high-risk maritime zones, as well as additional information on security events.

In this way, it contributes directly to maritime safety and support for ship crews and their owners.