Integrating Sensemaking and Response using Planning Operator Induction

Emergency response managers often try to prepare plans in advance of foreseeable crises. However, pre-prepared plans almost never fit the precise situation when an actual crisis arises. This paper focuses on what can be done once the plan has been found to be a mismatch with the actual situation, and particularly on sensemaking and its integration into generating a response to a crisis situation. This paper proposes planning operator induction as a suitable technique. The Air Traffic Control and military air defence situation over the continental US on September 11, 2001, serves as the illustrative application. Since the paper reports research in progress, it closes by outlining the additional functionality that will have to be added to the existing POI implementation to produce a sensemaking tool.