Assessment Northern Coast 2014 Information Management Mission Command

On request from Navy Command Finland, two staff officers from the NATO Command and Control Centre of Excellence in Utrecht conducted an interoperability assessment during exercise Northern Coast 2014. The assessment focused on Information Management and Mission Command within and between the MCC and the CTG 356.01 and their respective staffs.

The interoperability assessment was conducted 29 August to 11 September 2014 and divided into two locations: one period at EXCON/HICON in Turku, Finland, assessing the MCC and his staff, and two iterations on board the Swedish Navy ship, HSwMS Carlskrona where the CTG 356.01 and his staff was embarked.

The main focus of the Information Management and Mission Command assessment was on the processes, procedures, coordination and collaboration being enforced between and within the two staffs. The aim of the assessment was to analyze if the application of Information Management and Mission Command was in accordance with NATO policy and doctrine.

In the exercise specifications it was stated, “all operations to be conducted are based on NATO doctrine and procedures”. The main finding addressed in this report is that the policy and doctrinal knowledge on NATO Information Management and NATO Mission Command was very limited. The assessors from the NATO Command and Control Centre of Excellence considered that the execution in these two areas was not in line with NATO policy and doctrine.

This assessment report identifies and addresses the differences and challenges not aligned with NATO policy and doctrine, and offers recommendations on how to improve and incorporate Information Management and Mission Command in future Northern Coast exercises.