The Worlds Only Island Security Policy Think Tank Launches from Honolulu Already Engaged with Hawaii

HONOLULU - May 27, 2026 - PRLog -- e Island Security Policy Institute (ISPI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank headquartered in Honolulu, has launched as the world's first research organization dedicated exclusively to public safety and security policy for island and coastal
communities.

Within weeks of launch, ISPI was engaged by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HIEMA), which received a research scope for a policy brief examining whether Hawaii's county emergency management frameworks have been substantively reformed since the August 8, 2023 Lahaina wildfire that killed more than 100 people.

"The emergency managers who responded in Lahaina were doing everything the frameworks told them to do. The frameworks were wrong — designed for a different geography with multiple evacuation routes, redundant communication infrastructure, and
neighboring jurisdictions that could send resources within hours. Maui had none of those advantages. And the policy frameworks did not know it." — Warren Pulley, Founder and Executive Director

ISPI has published 22 research documents indexed in the National Criminal Justice Reference Service federal database alongside RAND and Brookings — all free at ispiglobal.com. The research library addresses public safety gaps across 10 island regions
including Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Jamaica, Fiji, the Maldives, and the Cayman Islands.

Hawaii-specific research covers HPD's chronic 20 percent vacancy rate, post-Lahaina framework reform status, housing cost as a workforce attrition driver, and AI governance gaps for Native Hawaiian populations.

https://ispiglobal.com/

"Six hundred million people live on islands worldwide. No research institution existed dedicated exclusively to their public safety until ISPI. We are building the alternatives."

ISPI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, SAM.gov UEI: G5H9VJ7C4NS8, NAICS 541720. Research commissions accepted from government agencies, foundations, and corporations operating in island environments. ispiglobal.com