Maritime Information-Sharing Strategy: A Realistic Approach for the American Continent and the Caribbean
Abstract
Information sharing is a fundamental requirement for meeting most of the current challenges of international maritime security. During the gathering of naval and maritime authorities at the nineteenth International Sea Power Symposium, held during October 2009 at the U.S. Naval War College, this topic captured the attention of most of the international representatives. It has become obvious that, together with globalization, the multiple threats and challenges of the maritime environment have assumed a transnational nature and require a coordinated effort to address them. It is difficult to argue against the ideas that these problems cannot be faced by any single state and that multinational collaboration is mandatory if adequate maritime domain awareness (MDA) is to be achieved. The U.S. "Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower" recognizes these facts and consequently is "rapidly gaining worldwide currency." The American continent and Caribbean region do not seem to be an exception. In this context the notion of a regional maritime partnership in the American continent and Caribbean demands effective information-sharing capabilities in order to become a reality. The objective of this article is to demonstrate that such an idea, although reasonable, seems to be too ambitious to implement in the regional context. Some of the potential partners have differing or conflicting interests, in addition to the traditional challenges that any complex network faces. First, the article describes the concepts related to information sharing and discusses how the need is reflected in various levels of doctrine of the United States, the main actor and promoter of this initiative.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA520745
Entities
People
- Alberto A. Soto
Organizations
- Naval War College