Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Robert Jordan | North Carolina National Guard Soldiers assigned to the NCNG Joint Operations Center,...... read more read more
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The North Carolina National Guard earned the Homeland Security Information Network (HISN) 2020 Incident Support Gold Award honoring NCNG information networking and communications excellence as part of their ongoing homeland security mission.
The award highlighted the NCNG Joint Operations Center's use of the HISN in coordinating and sharing information within the Guard and with local, state and national partners, peers and agencies last year.
The JOC, located at the NCNG Headquarters in Raleigh, was a hub of activity. Dozens of monitors were constantly updated with NCNG operations, locations of Soldiers and Airmen and mission requirements. A team of NCNG experts on duty 24/7 built a common information picture using the network for leaders at all levels to make better, more informed decisions in real time.
“It is essential to make quick decisions and get everyone involved in the mission,” said North Carolina Army National Guard Maj. Shawna Fitzpatrick, Knowledge Manager, NCNG Operations, Knowledge Management Office.
All year HISN improved NCNG actions including COVID-19 missions, civil unrest duty, Hurricanes Isaias and Sally, and yearlong cyber operations.
“It (the award) is amazing but well deserved, we leveraged the technology for a deeper understanding and shared situational awareness,” said NCARNG Col. Brent Orr, Director of Military Support
According to a Homeland Security release, the JOC creatively used HSIN for interagency collaboration and communication for thousands of personnel including NCNG leadership at all levels, state emergency management partners, FEMA Region 4 partner states, the National Guard Bureau, U.S. Northern Command, and many others.
“With HSIN, partners had the ability to quickly mine information for acute shared situational awareness, which in turn streamlined the workload of the Current Operations Team in the JOC,” said Fitzpatrick.
Using HSIN Connect, meeting attendees were able to easily and quickly access real-time data and instantly communicate and plan for current and upcoming operations. The JOC also maintained mission tracking progress within HSIN Connect, which was used to supplement discussions during meetings and resulted in more efficient planning processes.
“Military networks often create barriers that limit the ability to effectively share mission data, but HSIN Connect eliminates these barriers and provides multiple avenues of accessibility such as with mobile phone apps and browsers,” said Fitzpatrick. “Effective communication is crucial for success during an incident or event, and HSIN Connect provided the key tool to make this happen. Its ease of use and accessibility were leveraged to help create shared situational understanding across the NCNG, state, and national stakeholders, which led to successful and timely decision making for NCNG incident responses.”
| Date Taken: | 01.22.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 01.22.2021 19:18 |
| Story ID: | 387414 |
| Location: | RALEIGH, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 208 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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