Government Administrative Control Tower in Crisis Management System: Definition, Issues, and Policy Implications

A number of scholars and media in South Korea have recently raised questions regarding the necessity of a “government administrative control tower” (GACT) for dealing with crises. This paper aims to conceptualize GACT as a crisis management system and suggests administrative methods for improving this model by examining issues raised by its operation. Since the control tower is critical in times of crisis, this paper limits its focus to the role of GACT as a crisis management control tower. In crisis, an on-site control tower focuses especially on prevention, and on-site response and management must be synchronized with a higher-level administrative decision making control tower for the system to operate properly. While a fully authorized on-site control tower should serve as the central agent, a higher-level administrative decision making control tower should mobilize additional organizations and resources to support on-site capability. The operating principle for the latter should be to create an environment in which heterogeneous parties work together to make decisions about what to do rather than the president or the prime minister directly making orders and taking control.