B. Civil Information Management for the U. S. Government’s Syria Transition
Assistance Response Team (Lesson #2563)
Observation.
As part of the United States Government (USG)'s response to the Syrian conflict, Civil Affairs (CA)
Soldiers from the 92 nd CA Battalion formed a Knowledge Management Team (KMT) to support the
USG Syria Transition Assistance Response Team (START) in Turkey. The KMT filled a critical gap
in information sharing between the interagency and partner nations/organizations by providing
management of civil information through a web-based data repository and consolidated products.
Discussion.
Since the eruption of Syria’s civil war in 2011 and the ensuing complex emergency crisis, the U.S. has
been providing humanitarian assistance, development, and non-lethal support to Syrians in Turkey and
in Jordan. This response was initially civilian-led with efforts by the Department of State (DOS) and
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) which were working with non-governmental
organizations to accomplish humanitarian and political transition initiatives on the ground. This
civilian assistance programming predated military involvement (from the Department of Defense
(DOD)).
In order to synchronize these various assistance efforts across the USG, a Syria Transition Assistance
Response Team (START) was established in Embassy Ankara in Turkey, since the U.S. no longer had
formal diplomatic channels in Damascus, Syria. This interagency coordination mechanism hosted six
offices from DOS and USAID, providing assistance primarily to northern Syria. A similar unit, the
Southern Syria Assistance Plan (SSAP), was based in Embassy Amman in Jordan to coordinate
assistance to southern Syria. These interagency teams were responsible to work alongside international
organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Governments of Turkey and Jordan, and
Syrian people to coordinate U.S. assistance efforts to meet the needs of Syrian people in accordance
with U.S. policy.
By 2013, START had already generated a variety of reports and updates, and the Ambassador to
Turkey recognized the need for a knowledge management capability. To meet this need, the 92 nd Civil
Affairs Battalion supplied a Knowledge Management Team (KMT) of CA personnel to manage civil
information for the START, since Civil Information Management (CIM) is a core task of Civil
Affairs. “Civil information” includes data about civilian events, organizations, structures, capabilities,
and networks. It is different than intelligence about terrorism, relating more specifically to
reconstruction efforts, development, diplomacy, and national/international disaster response. This
kind of information about civil society is often found in reports by USG agencies but is not always
shared systematically in the interagency.
The KMT in the START was responsible for analyzing programmatic data and various reports
containing such civil information from USAID and DOS. The team gathered information
from several agencies, departments, contracted implementers, and international organizations. The
types of civil information documents that were consolidated by the KMT included
weekly/monthly/annual diplomatic cables, weekly summaries, field surveys, analytical papers, and
records of cross-border deliveries and training/equipment provided. Much of the information
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