July 2, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO — Before public safety officials can tackle a large-scale event or crisis together, they often have to solve a different problem first.

Someone forgot a password. Someone else can't find a link. Another agency is using a different system. Someone is trying to reach tech support.

“Every time I've gone to an emergency operations center during a critical incident, no one can log in,” Mike Sena said. “That's what you spend the first hour doing — getting people logged in.”

Sena is a County of San Mateo employee who serves on special assignment as executive director of the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, a central hub for gathering, assessing and distributing public safety intelligence. The center works with local, state, federal and international agencies and serves as our region’s Fusion Center.

“The problem is that we have traditionally looked at problems and said, ‘All right, let’s build something new,’” Sena said in a recent interview.  He recalled thinking, “I need to find something that everyone already has on their phone.”