Exploring Interagency Collaboration in the National Security Domain: A Distinct Form of Collaboration?

Abstract

This research investigates interagency collaboration concepts and practices in the context of a national security setting. Interagency collaboration practices exist side by side with traditional hierarchical organizational structures and practices. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) defines interagency collaboration as “any joint activity that is intended to produce more public value than could be produced when the agencies act alone” (Steinhardt, 2005, p. 4). Interagency collaboration enables governmental responses to complex missions and tasks associated with intractable national-level problems. Interagency organizations require collaborative mechanisms to improve partnerships with other organizations. GAO defines collaborative mechanisms as arrangements or applications that facilitate the implementation of collaboration goals (Mihm, 2012). These mechanisms are thought to support practices that can enhance and sustain interagency collaboration efforts (Steinhardt, 2005). A review of the academic and practitioner literature precedes investigation into an exemplar for interagency collaboration. This analysis responds to questions about whether interagency collaboration is a viable structural counterpart to purely hierarchical organizations, particularly as a means to resolve intractable national-level problems. The principal research question asks: what organizational mechanisms support interagency collaboration practices? A related question asks how interagency collaboration is differentiated from other forms of collaboration. Assuming collaboration practices are a requirement for operating in the interagency environment, do mechanisms better facilitate collaborative capacity to resolve national-level problems? This chapter explores interagency collaboration in the context of the national security domain, an arena in which collaboration has become an important element of interorganizational activity. We will examine this activity by analyzing several exemplar cases to illustrate the foundational concepts of interagency collaboration. Four primary activities comprise the chapter. First, a review of concepts begins the process to differentiate and specify interagency collaboration. Inparticular, mandated collaboration differentiates interagency collaboration from other forms of collaboration. Next, a list of interagency collaboration mechanisms is explored. Third, an exemplar of interagency collaboration from the national security domain is found to support conceptual interagency mechanisms. Intractable and complex problems may be nowhere more evident than in the national security domain concerned with the defense, foreign relations, and protection of national interests. Last, recommendations for future research focus on improving understanding relationships between interagency collaboration mechanisms and interagency effectiveness.