Maritime Domain Awareness 3.0
Marineinsight.com
Executive summary and key findings
- MDA systems being disrupted by new information rich environment: Maritime domain awareness (MDA) systems around the Indian Ocean region are being disrupted by technological developments, including a proliferation of satellite sensing and new analytical tools. This has significant implications for MDA information-sharing arrangements in the Indian Ocean and beyond.
Implications for MDA users
- Greater use of open-source information: MDA users such as maritime enforcement authorities are now gaining much greater access to information from a wide range of diverse sources, and this trend is likely to increase significantly in future. This includes much greater use of open-source information, including from private companies and NGOs. The long-standing monopoly that government agencies have had in MDA is being challenged.
- Greater reliance on analytical tools: The growing availability of online analytical tools using image recognition and machine learning technologies can help to process large volumes of data to make it useful for further analysis and operational purposes. The volume of data will still likely place significant strain on the analytical capabilities of Indian Ocean countries, which are already thin.
- Democratisation of information and intelligence: The proliferation of alternative information-sharing systems may effectively democratise maritime information and intelligence in several ways. Smaller or less wealthy countries may become considerably less reliant on larger countries for information.
- Greater pressure on response capabilities: These developments may make broad swathes of the ocean observed from spaces for the first time. This will place greater pressure on countries to have adequate response capabilities, potentially requiring enhanced cooperation arrangements with other countries.
Implications for Australia
- Building national capabilities of selected Indian Ocean partners: Australia’s policy is to help Indian Ocean partner states build sovereign national maritime security capabilities, including MDA capabilities, to enhance governance of their national jurisdictions and beyond. But there are significant constraints on resources that it can commit to capability building the Indian Ocean region. This means that Australia should leverage its strengths such as its expertise in MDA systems.
- Help build common information-sharing platforms: Australia should work with Quad and other like- minded partners to further develop the US-sponsored SeaVision system or establish a new common information platform where MDA users can select from a menu of information products offered by governments and non-governmental sources. The principal objective should be to establish a common information platform that is used around the region, rather than creating a universal common operating picture.
- Opportunities to take the lead in niche areas: Australia could consider taking a leading role in niche MDA areas involving the development of information and response networks with selected Indian Ocean partners. This could include using existing specialist Australian agencies/capabilities in the following areas:
- Cyber
- Cable resilience
- Environmental protection.
- Help build analytical capabilities: Australia could also make a valuable contribution in using its exper- tise to help selected Indian Ocean partners build their MDA analytical capabilities (which is likely to come under ever greater stress).
Consequences for regional information-sharing centres
- Need to adapt: Regional information-sharing centres (ISCs) will need to adapt to these developments to ensure that they remain relevant mechanisms for regional cooperation. In many cases, they may find it difficult to compete directly with online platforms as sources of tactical or operational intelligence for MDA users around the region.
- Review information-sharing systems: The reliance of regional ISCs on communication through Interna- tional Liaison Officers does not provide an optimal solution for national MDA users seeking real-time or near real-time operational information and intelligence.
- Providers of strategic intelligence: Regional ISCs may need to more clearly define what they do and don’t do. They could remain a valuable source of strategic intelligence/trend analysis, that is, as a source of historical information that can be used in tracking and understanding broad trends in regional threats.
- Improve use of International Liaison Officers: International Liaison Officers appear to be under-uti- lised as conduits for information-sharing. Their presence at regional ISCs is a potentially highly valuable resource and their roles could be expanded more towards regional liaison and multilateral response coordination and other roles.
Organising for a new information rich environment
- Challenge of integrating open-source: The growth of a new information-rich environment will involve the diversification of information sources, requiring improved integration of open-source information with non open-source information.
- Importance of human intelligence: There will be no single answer to the challenge of establishing effec- tive MDA, and despite technological developments, MDA users will still need to access information of many different types. For example, the ease of information provided through new platforms should not be allowed to obscure the importance of human intelligence, which can be crucial in understanding the behaviour of maritime actors, and may not be replicated by technology.
- Need for common information platforms: There is a need for a platform that can help users effectively aggregate, correlate and analyse different sources of data that they individually wish to access. This should facilitate commercial and NGO entities to ‘plug and play’ their products in a common platform where MDA users can select from a menu of products provided by governments, companies and NGOs, according to their circumstances. Given that users may choose to access different information sources, this would not necessarily create a universal common operating picture.
- New common information platform. The architecture of the US-sponsored SeaVision platform may be a source of sensitivities among many MDA users in Indian Ocean states, and these sensitivities will likely become increasingly apparent. The Quad partners should consider creating a new common platform that is perceived to be more multilateral and transparent in nature than existing offerings.
- Involving public and private agencies: The management of such a common information platform by a consortium of civilian agencies and, perhaps, private companies, would also go some way towards miti- gating political/geostrategic anxieties held by some MDA user countries. The involvement of private companies in such a platform may also be a way of mitigating costs.
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