Securing the nation’s ports represents one of the most complicated undertakings in homeland security because of the high volume of traffic and large number of parties involved. Timely, accurate data sharing is at the heart of the challenge.
At the federal level, port security falls under the government’s maritime domain awareness (MDA) initiative. That effort seeks to create a common operating picture that federal, state and local agencies with maritime security responsibilities can share. The Defense and Homeland Security departments spearhead the interagency MDA effort, which also involves the Transportation Department.
Locally, ports have their own security priorities. The job at this level also calls for the cooperation of multiple parties, including port employees, terminal operators, shipping companies and truckers. Most ports are near urban areas, so adjacent police, fire and emergency services agencies also come into play.
Data sharing permeates MDA at all levels. Relevant data must be collected from varied sources, put together in a meaningful way and made available to the appropriate parties. To make all that happen, it is necessary to identify key stakeholders and data sources, put cooperative agreements into place, and assemble the technical means for culling and distributing data.
“This is very complex,” said Zachary Tumin, executive director of the Leadership for a Networked World Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. “There are very different missions and very different organizations involved here. They all see part of the picture, but none of them see all of the picture.”
Anthony Cresswell, interim director of the Center for Technology in Government, said efforts such as MDA extend beyond technical considerations.
“It’s not just about getting databases to communicate or establishing data standards,” he said. “That is important, but all the bits and pieces of the technology are embedded in a very complicated policy framework and business process.”
Federal agencies and local port authorities are making progress in maritime security, but many challenges remain, including obtaining the cooperation of stakeholders, managing cross-boundary efforts and building incident response capabilities.
Digg
De.licio.us
Slashdot
Technorati
