Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (NAVSO)/ U.S. 4th Fleet Rear Adm. Joseph D. Kernan joined Dominican Republic representatives in a ceremony to mark the beginning of this cooperative endeavor with Dominican Republic.
MSSIS is an international system, developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in partnership with NATO and the U.S. Navy to provide a way for global partners to share AIS information. There are currently 52 nations participating in MSSIS, which collects and displays AIS data from multiple mobile and stationary platforms for real-time MDA to multiple users through a web-based, password-protected system.
NAVSO/4th Fleet is approaching Collaborative Maritime Domain Awareness in three phases; obtaining data, which requires multinational sharing; using existing and emerging technologies to collaboratively analyze the data; and establishing the Inter-American Naval Telecommunications Network (IANTN) aboard partner nation vessels, so ships can use a classified network to add Intel.
Collaborative Maritime Domain Awareness directly supports the U.S. Maritime Strategy by promoting collective maritime security and is also aligned with the U.S. State Department's Global Maritime Partnership Initiative.
As the Navy component commander for U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), NAVSO oversees maritime operations throughout , including exercises and deployments, counter illicit trafficking support, and theater security cooperation events.
U.S. 4th Fleet is the numbered fleet assigned to NAVSO exercising operational control of U.S. Navy units temporally operating in the SOUTHCOM area of focus, which encompasses the Caribbean, Central and South America, and surrounding waters.