Experience using Collaborative Technology with the United Nations and Multi-National Militaries: Rim of the Pacific 2000 Strong Angel Exercise in Humanitarian Assistance

The Center for the Management of Information (CMI) at The University of Arizona engaged in a joint research project with the U.S . Navy's Commander Third Fleet (Third Fleet) and The MITRE Corporation (MITRE) to use and evaluate collaborative technology during Strong Angel, a humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR) exercise. Strong Angel was a part of RIMPAC 2000, a five-week multinational exercise that involved seven nations with over 22,000 people, fifty ships, and 200 aircraft. RIMPAC 2000's Strong Angel set out to satisfy three goals: (1) Develop a mutual understanding of respective capabilities, limitations and expectations among multinational militaries and the main United Nations relief agencies; (2) Create a replicable system for the safe conduct of Strong Angel and subsequent exercises in civil-military interaction for humanitarian support; and (3) Deliver a coordinated response to a population in crisis. CMI, Third Fleet, and MITRE teamed to achieve four objectives: (1) provide a collaborative environment both at sea and ashore within an austere environment; (2) use collaborative technology to establish a forum for the exchange of relevant information between civilian humanitarian organizations and the military; (3) document the flux of combined activities each day; and (4) evaluate the utility of collaborative technology during a civil-military exercise in humanitarian relief. The team met each objective and reports the results in this paper which is to be presented and published at the Hawaiian International Conference on Systems Sciences in January 2001.