The Gulf Coast oil spill was the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history and presented a huge challenge for government. It was one of the first large scale disasters to happen in an open government world, providing a lot of lessons to be learned from the experience.

The DorobekINSIDER moderated a panel Friday hosted by AFFIRM that assessed the lessons learned from the Gulf Coast oil spill.

One of the big challenges: How to communicate, coordinate and collaborate in near real time. Captain James Cash, the Coast Guard's Chief for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Information Technology and Sensor Capabilities, described the challenges the Coast Guard faced in the week right after the oil spill.

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