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Groups gather to discuss working together in disaster response

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Adam Hoffmann
  • 939th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
PORTLAND, Ore --  People from the military, other federal agencies, first-responder organizations and private industry met here March 23 to discuss the future of interoperability during a disaster.

Lt. Col. Stephen Hoogasian, an Air Force Reserve Command KC-135 pilot, organized the conference. His goal was to bring together the people, organizations and companies who will be on the frontlines of an emergency, before the emergency happens.

They met for more than four hours discussing the latest in communication technology while learning and sharing their own ideas for enhancing disaster response in the future.

"We have the technology here and throughout the world to have interoperability today," said Bill Kalin of the Department of Homeland Security Associates. "Sometimes people, processes and politics prevent us from sharing data. We need to change because at the end of the day it means saving lives and reducing property damage."

One of the technologies prominently featured at the conference was Cursor on Target. CoT is a simple, powerful method of communicating situational awareness data. The MITRE Corp. developed CoT in support of the Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.

In 2002, former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper challenged his people to develop capabilities that allowed different agencies to communicate with each other using existing systems. In his machine-to-machine vision, "the sum of all wisdom is a cursor over the target."

Five years later "Cursor on Target" is a technology that has launched prototype activities with more than 100 different systems throughout all of the military services, as well as among civilian organizations.


One of the major uses of CoT has been to make the process of assigning assets to a target and then passing target coordinates more efficiently. CoT does this by reducing the traditionally human-intensive, inefficient and error-prone tasks and replacing them with machine-to-machine communications.

The critical elements communicated through CoT are "what," "where," and "when."

"What" indicates whether an object is a friendly or hostile force, a target to be killed or a survivor to be rescued. "Where" has become synonymous with the military's global positioning system for accuracy of precision coordinates that guide munitions through windows or navigate tanks through zero-visibility sandstorms. "When" is becoming increasingly important as operators dramatically reduce the time it takes to identify a target and destroy it during "time-sensitive-targeting" missions.

The result has been a 67-percent improvement in targeting timeline for Air Force Special Tactics and a significant increase in accuracy by eliminating tedious manual and error-prone activities. It is also results in dramatic cost reductions and quicker data delivery time

Although the military has enjoyed the benefits of machine-to-machine communication tools, these tools are often useless in relief efforts where civilian authorities are involved. The use of CoT by first-responders was a primary focus of the Portland conference.

"We wield the most technologically advanced tools on any battlefield in the world," said Senior Master Sgt. James Hotaling of the Oregon Air National Guard's 125th Special Tactics Squadron. "However when we deployed to the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, we couldn't use all of our tools because they weren't compatible with the assets civilian agencies were using."

CoT would provide agencies with the ability to communicate with each other irrespective of the kind of equipment each uses. According to ESC officials, the technology is gaining ground within private companies, which are developing display software for disaster relief.

"In my opinion, the weakest link during a crisis or major incident is often communication and interoperability of those on scene," said Senior Master Sgt. Derek Stabell, a KC-135 boom operator and a civilian firefighter from Longview, Wash. "My role in the Longview Fire Department is as a frontline [fireman] who is charged with carrying out tactical objectives. I don't often know what the incident commander is thinking or what information he is working with to establish his strategy. CoT offers the ability to share graphical situational awareness in real time, so that I see exactly what he sees."

According to the sergeant, the ultimate goal is to use CoT technology to provide improved situational awareness at every level, so that people can make more informed decisions.

For example, "a news helicopter equipped with CoT technology may allow for a faster response and provide enhanced situational awareness within the first hours or days of a large-scale incident," said Colonel Hoogasian. "The early collection of data is crucial at any incident, large or small, and determines the incident commander's initial courses of action."

On a smaller scale, CoT has the ability to link rescuers working together in new ways. Better communication will improve first responders' ability to stay safe in hostile conditions and to locate people if they become disoriented or disabled.

"The goal is not to eliminate radio communication," said Sergeant Stabell. "However, as we learned in the aftermath of 9/11, communication can be very limited in times of crisis. The objective for first responders is to supplement radio communications so as to improve situational awareness. CoT allows everyone to have the same picture of an ever-changing situation, which benefits us all, not just the incident commander."

"By utilizing CoT, civilian agencies can take advantage of this paid for and tested product increasing their ability to work together and save lives," said Colonel Hoogasian.

The true benefits of CoT continue to grow as more agencies, both military and civilian, adopt the technology and share it with others who truly need it to complete their missions, said Colonel Hoogasian.

He is championing CoT technology inside and outside the Air Force. CoT has among its advocates some of the service's most senior leaders to include Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne.

"This is an exciting time," said Colonel Hoogasian. "We are helping to integrate CoT at the local level while laying the framework for it to be adopted nationally. This exemplifies Reserve and National Guard Citizen Airmen using the total force along with first responders to support the community and the nation in more efficient ways." (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)