Directors of the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center and the Joint Regional Intelligence Center-Los Angeles have become the recipients of the annual National Maritime Domain Awareness Executive Steering Committee (MDA ESC) Award.

Chief of the Maritime Security Department in the National Maritime Intelligence-Integration Office (NMIO) John Sanford presented the MDA ESC Award to the directors during the 2018 National Fusion Center Association Annual Training Event in Alexandria, Virginia in December, 2018.

“It is certainly an honor to recognize the work of the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center and the Joint Regional Intelligence Center-Los Angeles’ work to improve maritime information sharing and collaboration on behalf of the MDA ESC,” said Sanford, who presented the award to the directors on behalf of Rear Adm. Bob Sharp, chair of the MDA ESC. 

“Their work is a great example of how fusion centers, working with their partner law enforcement agencies, can improve security in our coastal waters, Sanford said.

The MDA ESC recognized the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center and the Joint Regional Intelligence Center-Los Angeles, for distinguishing themselves in expanding their collaborative efforts in supporting the Department of Homeland Security’s Regional Coordinating Mechanism’s maritime law enforcement operations in the Los Angeles-Long Beach Coast Guard Sector.

These two centers are proven partners to the local Coast Guard and Customs Border Protection intelligence personnel, and have provided intelligence support to numerous state, local and federal law enforcement agencies to counter illicit activities along the Southern California coast.

The centers have successfully proven the value in sharing maritime intelligence and information, and the value in collaborating on intelligence assessments and other products. Their collective efforts have now spread across five counties, leading to numerous successful prosecutions and the effective interdiction of illicit shipments of people and cargo prior to their arrival on our shores.

The Director of National Intelligence, in cooperation with Navy and Coast Guard created NMIO in 2009 to advance governmental collaboration and unity of effort as outlined in the 9/11 Commission Report, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, and the National Strategy for Maritime Security. NMIO facilitates information sharing and collaboration across the Global Maritime Community of Interest, which consists of U.S. federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments; maritime industry; academia; and our international partners.

To learn more about NMIO go to http://nmio.ise.gov/index.htm.