Evolution of Domain Awareness Capabilities at Usssouthcom

Domain Awareness

In the context of military and security operations, Domain Awareness can be defined as the “effective understanding” of anything associated with a particular “domain” (maritime, air, land, cyber, human, space) that could impact security, safety, the economy, or the environment.  Effective understanding of what is happing in a particular domain occurs when a decision-maker’s comprehension of relevant information enables him/her to make timely and optimal decisions, and should lead to appropriate action taken, as required by the specific mission or operational objective/s.  Domain Awareness consists of two key dimensions: what is observable and known (Situational Awareness), and what is anticipated or suspected (Threat Awareness).  Domain Awareness is achieved when these two components are brought together to provide a decision-maker with an amalgamation of operational, intelligence, and environmental information.  Comprehensive Domain Awareness would include “effective understanding” of the content, activity patterns, changes, and potential threats in that domain, or environment.  

From CNIES to CSII

Since 1999, the U.S. and countries in the Caribbean and Central America have been using the Cooperative Nations Information Exchange System (CNIES) to support regional counter-illicit trafficking operations.  However, with the rapid evolution of information sharing technologies and in response to Partner Nation’s request for improved domain awareness capability, U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) has led a series of initiatives intended to develop the next generation of information sharing systems for this purpose.  Beginning in 2005 with the Regional Airspace Initiative Latin America (RAIL) studies, which assessed military and civilian domain awareness capabilities, and culminating in 2011 with the Virtual Integrated Domain Awareness (VIDA) experiment, the concept evolved from that of a “brick and mortar” facility to a “virtual”, internet based, multi-domain, and information sharing platform:  the Cooperative Situational Information Integration (CSII) system.  Information sharing for counter-illicit trafficking operations currently supported by CNIES will transition to the new and more capable CSII, which can integrate sensor information from multiple domains (air, sea, land), selectively shared by participating Partner Nations, into a regional, web-based (users would access the platform and information via the internet), unclassified system.  While CSII hopes to increase battle-space awareness and improve Partner Nation capacity in the areas of counter-illicit trafficking and combating transnational organized crime, the technology could be leveraged to support foreign humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and search and rescue.  CSII aims to break down domain awareness stovepipes through the lateral and vertical integration of air tracks, maritime tracks, and land based geo-spatial information into a single network.  Transition to CSII is scheduled for completion by end of calendar year 2014.