U.S. Coast Guard Emergency Response and Disaster Operations

Social media can enhance situational awareness in response operations, but using social media this way poses challenges. The aim of this project was to contribute to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) mission to ensure resilience to disasters by helping DHS understand whether and how social media might be better leveraged for such situational awareness. The primary focus of this research was on U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) response operations. Using several types of analyses, the researchers found that, for decades, the USCG and other boaters have relied on communication channels (e.g., Rescue 21) that are intended specifically for maritime safety. As a result, these channels provide specific information that can be used to locate mariners in distress. Yet the authors also found that a significant proportion of distress calls now come to the USCG through other means, such as cell phones and, indirectly, from 911 calls. This raises concerns about potential hindrances to the USCG's search-and-rescue (SAR) mission, including lack of location information, uncertainty about overwater cell coverage, and lack of organizational capacity to collect and analyze social media information. With these findings, the authors recommend that DHS develop policies and procedures to facilitate sharing cell phone distress location data with the USCG, that the USCG work to ensure that an organization—itself or another—assumes responsibility for understanding cell coverage over water, and that the USCG identify other missions for which social media information could help increase maritime safety and security and enhance environmental protection and response operations.