Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance: DOD Needs a Strategic, Risk-Based Approach to Enhance Its Maritime Domain Awareness

DOD concurred with the recommendation and reported a number of efforts underway or planned to address the recommendation. Most of the efforts come under the purview of the DOD Executive Agent for Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA). Some of these efforts include updated Policy, Goals and Objectives for MDA within the Navy and updated MDA Planning & Program Recommendations. DOD reported that updates to these documents will assign roles and responsibilities and align efforts with DOD's established processes for determining requirements and allocating resources. The MDA Executive Agent also plans to continue assessing Annual MDA Plans throughout major DOD commands and components, which inform DOD's overall guidance and planning documents for MDA. In July 2013 Navy officials reported that the DOD Executive Agent for Maritime Domain Awareness consulted with Office of Deputy Assitant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and formed a writing team to draft a DoD MDA Strategic Plan. The strategy will be signed by the Under Secretary of Defense Policy and supplement DoD Directive 2005.02E. The strategy will include the baseline metrics and assignments for execution of the Interagency Solutions Analysis. Navy officials report that the the department-wide strategy has been completed and will be officially released on September 30, 2015. This addresses the intent of the recommendation.

DOD concurred with the recommendation and reported that the MDA Executive Agent planned to present the matter to the members of the interagency National MDA Coordination Office (NMCO) for further consideration on implementation. The MDA Executive Agent also planned to request that--as part of future Annual MDA Plans--DOD Components report on threats, vulnerabilities, and criticalities as well as provide insight on how threats and vulnerabilities are balanced. The MDA Executive Agent would incorporate requirements from the National Maritime Intelligence Center into the Annual MDA Plans cycle. In July 2013 Navy officials stated that the DOD Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) Executive Agent gained won approval by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council of the Interagency MDA Initial Capabilities Document addressing the most critical information gaps concerning vessels, people, and cargo. This was followed by the Interagency Solutions Analysis, which emphasizes non-material solutions and integration of existing interagency efforts and recommends thirty seven actions, of which DoD is the recommended interagency lead for eighteen. Assigning roles and responsibilities within DoD to close these gaps forms the core of the DOD MDA Strategic Plan. The executive agent office is working on the DOD owned MDA gaps by identifying existing tools, and assuring their availability for department wide use. The office is also working with the combatant commands and the Navy fleets to identify local tools that can be used for enterprise use. In addition, the executive agent office is working with program offices developing new tools to ensure MDA gaps are being addressed. The executive agent office priorities and objectives are all based on closing those 20 MDA gaps. The DoD MDA Strategic Plan Core Writing Team is completing the draft plan, which will reflect the national goals set forth in the new National MDA Plan and build upon the Department's progress in implementing whole of government Shared Enterprise Solutions for MDA. Navy official report that the plan has been completed and will be signed on September 30, 2015. Taken together, these actions address the intent of the recommendation.