September 3, 2014

“Maritime Operational Information Sharing Analysis (MOISA1)” Report (2014)

Year one of the Maritime Operations Information Sharing Analysis project (MOISA1) was a descriptive, ethnographic exploration of the complex daily operational information sharing environment (ISE) of the Puget Sound security and safety community (PSSSC). MOISA1 revealed fundamental information with profound actionable implications for the security and safety of our country. These implications include:

1. A critical need to refine how we identify, conduct, deliver, and maintain initiatives designed to enhance regional security, safety, and resilience

2. Insights into community-based strategies to increase the immediate and long-term value of these initiatives, particularly when they are based upon use of information and communication technologies

On a daily operational basis, the PSSSC’s ISE is extremely effective, yet it is also highly informal, based largely on knowledge of people, organizations, and work practices (community self-knowledge) and communities of trust that continually evolve through ongoing relationships and shared experiences. Aside from generic communication technologies such as phone and email, past investments in security IT systems have not had a major impact on the community-wide ISE in any way proportional to the size of those investments. This primarily results from a critical misalignment between, on the one hand, the funding, design, development, implementation, and maintenance strategies of Federally-funded IT security initiatives,
and, on the other hand, the work, information sharing environments, and mission performance of the people and organizations charged with the daily security and safety of their region. This mismatch between the strategies and practices of IT initiatives and the ISE of the regional operational community doom these initiatives to limited, if any, long-term value.