GSN AWARDS: Coast Guard’s new alert system garners a trophy

Enroute to American Samoa

In years past, the U.S. Coast Guard relied on radio broadcasts and local “phone trees” to alert its personnel to hurricanes, natural disasters or other important news, but with the introduction of its new Alert and Warning System (AWS) 2.0, the Coast Guard is embracing a “network-centric” system that can quickly alert 50,000 people or more, via phone, short message service, e-mail and fax, thereby greatly enhancing its warning capabilities.

The judges in GSN’s homeland security awards program were so impressed with the Coast Guard’s new system – which is based on the AtHoc IWSAlerts emergency notification system – that they awarded the Coast Guard the winner’s trophy in the “Maritime/Seaport Security Program, Project or Agency” category at a festive dinner in Washington, DC, on Nov. 8.

The AWS was developed to replace the Coast Guard’s legacy warning because the new system is “reliable and easy to use by USCG personnel and does not require IT professionals for operation,” according to the Coast Guard’s entry form.

Since its introduction, the AWS 2.0 has immediately begun demonstrating its utility by helping to manage federal responses to crises, including earthquakes in Haiti and American Samoa.

“More recently, AWS was used extensively in responding to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill,” explained the Coast Guard. “USCG issued 13 messages that were received by 4,500 internal and external users. Examples include a message sent to Sector Honolulu requesting additional personnel in the Gulf,” the USCG continued. “USCG’s Sector Mobile (Ala.) used AWS to postpone a search-and-rescue exercise that was scheduled for the Gulf near the spill.”

AWS 2.0 enables Coast Guard leaders to notify active duty, reserve, auxiliary, civilian, maritime industry partners and other government agencies through multiple delivery channels. “AWS 2.0 can automate personnel recall and continuity of operations and can manage personnel accountability in emergencies,” explained the Coast Guard’s documentation.

Best of all, the system eliminates the need for more than one alerting system to be used by a single USCG unit. This simplifies training and support requirements.

“AWS 2.0 marks the first USCG national mass notification system,” said USCG Lt. Cmdr. Ted Kim. “It leverages the centralized Web resources at our West Virginia data center so that no additional software and hardware are required for local commands or ports. You can easily and simply log in to access the application and send an alert.”