Understanding and Overcoming Information Sharing Failures

Despite improved data interoperability, common digital architectures, and massive connected digital networks, the same failures of information sharing occur again and again. This paper reviews the information sharing failures that caused or exacerbated major catastrophes – the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Hurricane Katrina. An analysis of these failures reveals that they fall into only a couple of categories that reflect how organizations partner, communicate, synthesize, or make decisions. The results prompt a redefining of information sharing to capture these broader system notions, furthermore provides a foundation for identifying and explaining historic forms of collaboration that have led to both failures and successes. This paper also reviews the common information sharing safeguards that lead to shared understanding and collaborative outcomes. We map these safeguards against the failures for developing collaboration strategies, and classify them according to six basic systems engineering categories of governance, processes, operations, acceptance, performance measurement, and resource management. Our study of information sharing activities finds that some safeguards like oversight mechanisms or stakeholder management processes are more essential than others. These principles direct evaluation of information sharing activities to prevent these failures in future responses to complex threats.