Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Communications for the 21st Century

Abstract

Communication requirements for humanitarian assistance or disaster relief operations (HADR) differ from conventional combat operations -- the military commander requires an unclassified, information-sharing architecture to effectively collaborate and coordinate with the civilian agencies and organizations involved in such an operation. The military response is often at the operational level but this response can have strategic effects on U.S. prestige and credibility in a given region. All combatant commands must be ready to respond to a humanitarian crisis or natural disaster, and to do so effectively they must share information with civilian entities in the operating environment. This paper will do the following: analyze Operation Unified Assistance, the United States Pacific Command's response to the 2004 tsunami natural disaster; draw conclusion about the communications architecture used in this operation; and discuss the lessons learned for operational commanders who are involved in HADR communications and collaboration.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 10, 2007
Accession Number
ADA470757

Entities

People

  • Charles Daly

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Engineered Resilient Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combat Operations
  • Command And Control
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Disasters
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • Information Exchange
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • Natural Disasters
  • Network Architecture
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States
  • United States Pacific Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare
  • Websites

Readers

  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Strategic Security Studies