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: develop a mutual understanding of respective capabilities, limitations and expectations among multinational militaries and the main United Nations relief agencies; create a replicable system for the safe conduct of Strong Angel and subsequent exercises in civil-military interaction for humanitarian support; and deliver a coordinated response to a population in crisis. CMI, Third Fleet and MITRE teamed to achieve four objectives: provide a collaborative environment both at sea and ashore within an austere environment; use collaborative technology to establish a forum for the exchange of relevant information between civilian humanitarian organizations and the military; document the flux of combined activities each day; and 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.