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Role of Unifying Disaster Response Rests on USNORTHCOM's Shoulders June 2006
When a disaster strikes the United States, collaboration among the military and other federal agencies, local law enforcement officials, and first responders saves lives. But the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and, more recently, Hurricane Katrina, proved that getting disparate agencies and groups to work together efficiently during disasters presents immense challenges. To effectively collaborate, officials need real-time, reliable communications links. Technical limitations that prevent federal and local officials and rescue workers from being in constant contact even by cell phone or handheld radios—as was initially the case during Hurricane Katrina—delay emergency response even further. To address these challenges, several federal agencies are engaged in an intensive effort to modernize communication links and promote collaboration within the United States—a critical step toward improving the effectiveness of disaster response. U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is spearheading this effort from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, where 10 MITRE engineers provide enterprise architecture, communications enterprise integration, and systems engineering support. MITRE and USNORTHCOM are working together to manage and modernize the command's enterprise network, which includes links with the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, state emergency operations centers, local emergency response officials, Centers for Disease Control, first responders, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the National Guard. USNORTHCOM, a Combatant Command established by the DoD a year after the Sept. 11 attacks, consolidates several previously independent homeland defense and civil support missions. According to the command's mission statement, its primary role is to "deter, prevent, and defeat threats and aggression aimed at the United States," as well as to provide military assistance to civil authorities. The command supports domestic disaster relief operations, counter-drug operations, counter-terrorism efforts, and "national special security events" such as the Super Bowl, World Series, or Olympic games. It also provides direct assistance to agencies such as FEMA in the event of crises such as hurricanes, forest fires, floods, and terrorist incidents. Enterprise architecture and communications upgrades are the main focus of MITRE's support, according to C.J. Bohn III, principal multi-discipline systems engineer. Moving Information Sharing to the Top of the List
"After 9-11, it became clear that there was a lack of information sharing across the various federal agencies and law enforcement groups, which resulted in an inability to connect the dots and solve problems," explains Matthew C. Eager, a lead information systems engineer. Officials tracking particular threats or suspects need better ways to contact their counterparts in other federal, state, or local agencies that are chasing down the same leads. During the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, for example, a lack of common standards among communications platforms caused headaches for first responders. MITRE lead network and distributed systems engineer Norm Michaels led USNORTHCOM's effort to restore and extend commercial access to local and state authorities, as well as to provide basic military communication services to active duty and National Guard forces deployed to the Gulf States following the hurricane. Debra A. Galarowicz, department head of MITRE's Northern and Strategic Command Operations, called upon additional technical and engineering support from across MITRE to augment the disaster-relief effort. She says that with MITRE's assistance, USNORTHCOM's support was so successful that U.S. Sen. Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana sent a special letter to the USNORTHCOM Commander, Admiral Timothy Keating, thanking him for solving "the communications quagmire that developed as a result of the storm's damage in Louisiana." USNORTHCOM's Director of Command and Control Systems, Rear Admiral Nancy E. Brown, subsequently commended Michaels and task leader Keith A. Hartley for their "resourcefulness [which] ensured the unprecedented humanitarian relief support met all mission objectives." "I was very honored to be recognized for the support I was able to provide to the hurricane relief efforts," said Hartley, a lead network systems engineer. Smart Agents Boost Information Sharing MITRE is also supporting USNORTHCOM on a DoD-sponsored Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration known as the Event Management Framework (EMF), which began in fall 2005. This effort seeks to integrate existing technologies such as "smart agents" to improve information sharing during both day-to-day and crisis operations, as well as to address the policy issues that hinder effective information sharing. "The idea is that smart agents will be able to gather information based on the user's profile," Eager says, adding that this technology will work on existing, unclassified computer networks. Although EMF remains in the early development stages, he notes that technical issues are not the major barrier. "There are a lot of existing systems that address pieces of the larger problem. EMF will integrate these existing capabilities and allow users to spend their time actually analyzing information, rather than spending their time looking for it. The major issue will be the legal, policy, and cultural barriers that have traditionally hindered information sharing." Partners in Communication: USNORTHCOM and NORAD MITRE's support to USNORTHCOM's enterprise extends to its sister command, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD. MITRE supports engineering and integration efforts for data and voice communications across the two commands, says Hartley, who also serves as technical advisor to the USNORTHCOM office responsible for these mission areas. NORAD's mission is to deter, detect, and defeat aerospace threats to North America, which requires close cooperation with USNORTHCOM; the two commands' enterprise networks are tightly linked. (MITRE has a long and rich history supporting NORAD; please see sidebar.) "We're not just working on LANs [local area networks] within NORAD and USNORTHCOM. We're tying all the NORAD sections and regions back to NORAD-USNORTHCOM headquarters, so they can collaborate more effectively," Hartley says. Additionally, "we are developing an architecture and framework to allow non-military organizations to access the information we need to share. Unfortunately, in the case of Katrina, there wasn't much infrastructure there to use." Nonetheless, the lessons learned from the hurricane are guiding military and civilian agencies on where to focus their energies to improve communications between organizations like the National Guard and local rescue workers. Hartley explains that military officials recognize information sharing must remain a top priority. "There used to be a fundamental reluctance in the military to sharing information, particularly out of the direct chain of command. That is slowly changing," he says. "We are trying to help change the paradigm from the 'need to protect' to the 'need to share,' especially in the aftermath of national or regional disasters. We need to get the information that is needed to those officials and decision-makers who need it most, no matter who or where they are." —by Maria S. LeeRelated Information Articles and News
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