Two federal programs were honored by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School last week. Along with one city and three state government programs, the Global Maritime Domain Awareness program of the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Intelligence Community Civilian Joint Duty Program of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are 2008 winners of the Innovations in American Government (IAG) Awards.
The programs were selected because they encourage cross collaboration and knowledge sharing. The Intelligence Community Civilian Joint Duty Program requires intelligence officials to complete a period of duty outside their parent agency. The program aims to develop leaders with a broader sense of the inner workings of American intelligence across the intelligence community agencies.
Developed in 2007, the Joint Duty Program is designed to address the unique threats faced by American intelligence in the post-9/11 world. Through the efforts of Director of Intelligence Mike McConnell and the strong backing of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, all 16 intelligence agencies, including those within the six cabinet departments that make up the intelligence community, participate in the program. Previously, these agencies all operated almost independently - an insularity identified by the 9/11 Commission as one of the primary reasons the intelligence community failed to anticipate the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Under the guidelines of the Joint Duty Program, all Intelligence Community employees are evaluated under the same performance standard. These standards include how well they share information, collaborate, and take integrated action across agency boundaries. While formal outcomes are classified, the program is receiving anecdotal acclaim.
"Joint Duty ensures that leaders of the Intelligence Community acquire a deep understanding of how each element of the IC contributes to the overall mission," said Director McConnell. "It's like the quintessential CEO who has spent time working in the mail room, advertising, distribution, sales, and accounting."
The Global Maritime Domain Awareness Program provides an unprecedented level of visibility into transit and port activity by tracking the movements of more than 10,000 vessels from over 40 nations in real-time. The program was developed in 2006 by the Volpe Center of the Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration.
At the center of the program is its Maritime Safety and Security Information System (MSSIS). It is an easily scalable and accessible web platform which consolidates information transmitted from commercial ship transponders with data from shore side receivers. The system's built in analysis tools facilitate easy identification of data anomalies that could signify suspicious activity, updating every 10 seconds. Information is unclassified and easily accessible with a user name and password.
MSSIS is a resource and time saver because it eliminates costly ship board inspections and fly-over surveillance. Due to the data sharing nature of the system, it supports multi-national naval exercises such as NATO's Operation Active Endeavour and officials from many partnering nations use the system to enforce environmental and safety regulations, prevent oil spills, and reduce port congestion and vessel collisions.
Since the Global Maritime Domain Awareness' inception two years ago, its participating membership has expanded from five to 40 countries with another 40 nations currently evaluating participation. It has facilitated atypical cooperation among unlikely nations, including Turkey and Greece as well as Pakistan and India.
Stephen Goldsmith, director of the IAG awards, praised the program's combination of technology expertise with diplomatic savvy. "It practices not only advanced security on international seaways, but also shows how innovation can arise from the creative and collaborative use of existing assets."
Each of the IAG award winners receives $100,000 towards dissemination and replication across the country. OhMyGov! salutes the winners as well as the Ash Institute for their efforts to improve government and by extension the quality of life of US citizens.
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