Implementing maritime domain awareness

Abstract

As an attempt to gain understanding of everything in the global maritime environment that can impact the security of the United States, the Maritime Domain Awareness initiative is one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the U.S. government. Information that falls under the prevue of MDA is tremendously diverse and complex, having application in the regulatory, law enforcement, and military arenas. As such, MDA is a multi-agency effort that encompasses 16 respective departments, agencies, and organizations working toward one common goal of shared information. Given that each of these organizations operates under policies and procedures that are radically different, effective MDA requires the design of a construct that fuses multi-agency information in such a way that it can be effectively shared among all agencies. This thesis argues that current infrastructure in the Coast Guard and Navy can be used to obtain MDA through a formal linking process that fuses multi-agency information on the tactical, regional, and strategic levels for sharing and dissemination to appropriate forces for action.