Turning Maritime Awareness Into Decision Advantage

At USGIF’s June GEOINTeraction Tuesday, U.S. Coast Guard Assistant Commandant for Intelligence Steven Griffin called for a faster “detect-to-act” approach to maritime security.

Maritime security no longer depends only on knowing what is happening at sea. It depends on how quickly agencies can act on that knowledge.

That idea anchored USGIF’s June GEOINTeraction Tuesday, held June 23 at SynMax’s Washington, DC offices. The program, Achieving Maritime Domain Dominance, brought together a packed room of government, industry, and academic professionals for a discussion on how the maritime community can move from awareness to operational advantage.

The event was held in partnership with USGIF’s new Maritime Domain Awareness Working Group and sponsored by SynMax. Eric Anderson, CEO and Co-Founder of SynMax, welcomed attendees, and SynMax demonstrated its software during the program. Sue Kalweit, USGIF’s Vice President of Programs, welcomed the group and moderated a Q&A with Steven Griffin, Assistant Commandant for Intelligence, U.S. Coast Guard, following his keynote remarks.

 

A Shift Toward “Detect-to-Act”

Griffin described a maritime environment that has become more complex, more contested, and more data-rich. Transnational criminal organizations, illegal fishing operations, sanctions evasion, smuggling networks, state-sponsored activity, and adversarial influence operations all challenge traditional approaches to maritime security.

The Coast Guard, he said, must move from a traditional intelligence model to a “detect-to-act” framework. That shift requires agencies to close the gap between collection, analysis, dissemination, and action so operators receive useful intelligence before a decision window closes.

 

Turning Maritime Data Into Decisions

The challenge is not a lack of data. It is the ability to turn vast amounts of data into intelligence that operators can use.

Commercial imagery, AIS signals, RF collections, radar systems, open-source intelligence, and government sensors now generate enormous volumes of maritime information. Those sources create new opportunities, but they also place new demands on analysts and operators.

Griffin pointed to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation as essential tools for meeting that demand. These capabilities can help correlate data sources, identify anomalous vessel behavior, automate repetitive tasks, reduce analyst workload, prioritize high-interest targets, and accelerate operational decisions.

The goal is not to replace people. It is to give them more time and better information for judgment, analysis, and mission execution.

The discussion also made clear that technology alone will not deliver maritime domain dominance. Griffin repeatedly emphasized three pillars: policy, technology, and partnerships.

Information sharing remains one of the largest barriers. Classification restrictions, interoperability challenges, differing national policies, legacy systems, and emerging data types can slow collaboration across agencies, allies, industry, and international partners. Maritime threats rarely stay inside one jurisdiction or organization, which makes faster and more flexible information sharing essential.

Industry also has a clear role to play. Griffin encouraged companies to focus less on adding more data to the ecosystem and more on helping the government extract insight from the data it already has. The government needs analytics, decision-support tools, interoperable systems, and scalable capabilities that can support operational outcomes.

 

Practical AI Adoption, Arctic Security, and Workforce Needs

The Q&A expanded the conversation to AI adoption, risk tolerance, Arctic security, critical infrastructure protection, small business innovation, allied information sharing, and future workforce needs.

On AI, the discussion focused on practical adoption. Agencies must balance innovation with mission assurance, but they also need to test, deploy, and improve emerging tools through real operational use. Not every intelligence problem requires a real-time solution. The key is knowing where speed matters most and where deeper analysis adds more value.

The Arctic also stood out as a growing strategic concern. Increased activity in northern regions, foreign actor presence, critical infrastructure risks, maritime border security, and undersea infrastructure protection all require stronger awareness and greater operational presence. As more sensors come online, the core challenge will again be exploitation: understanding and using the information being collected.

Workforce needs remain just as urgent. Future maritime operations will require people who understand data science, software development, artificial intelligence, machine learning, systems integration, data engineering, and advanced analytics. They will also need mission context. Technical fluency matters most when paired with operational understanding.

 

A Forum for Sustained Maritime Collaboration

The event underscored the importance of USGIF’s Maritime Domain Awareness Working Group as a forum for sustained collaboration across the GEOINT community. Maritime domain dominance will require more than sensors or platforms. It will require faster workflows, trusted partnerships, interoperable systems, and the ability to turn data into decisions at mission speed.

Interested in being part of the conversation? Learn more about USGIF’s Maritime Domain Awareness Working Group and how to get involved.

USGIF will continue convening the GEOINT community around the mission, technology, and workforce issues shaping the future of geospatial intelligence. Upcoming programs include Mission Focus: AI-First Approaches, sponsored by AWS, on July 22, and GEOINTeraction Tuesday: It’s About Automation, Not AI, sponsored by Raytheon, on July 28.

USGIF thanks SynMax for sponsoring and hosting the June GEOINTeraction Tuesday program.