Hawaii Policy Research Series · Island Security Policy Institute · 2026
Hawaii's public infrastructure deficit — aging bridges, water systems, power grid, and emergency communications networks — creates compound vulnerability in an island environment with no redundant systems and no adjacent infrastructure to borrow from during failure events.
Documents Hawaii's infrastructure deficit and its specific public safety implications in an island environment where infrastructure failure cannot be compensated by adjacent system capacity, creating compounding emergency management challenges. This research is produced under the ISPI Research Methodology Guide v4.0 — five pillars: government agency sources, regional organizations, OSINT/Bellingcat two-source verification, the ISPI Global Expert Panel of 78 members across 14 disciplines, and AI synthesis under practitioner review. All ISPI research is free under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
Hawaii's infrastructure investment deficit creates single-point failure vulnerabilities with no geographic redundancy — when the grid fails, no adjacent grid can compensate
Emergency communications infrastructure failures during the Lahaina wildfire demonstrate the compound effect of infrastructure deficit on island emergency management outcomes
The supply chain singularity condition means infrastructure repair parts and equipment face the same single-entry island logistics constraints as everything else — extending recovery timelines beyond continental benchmarks
Pacific SIDS face infrastructure deficits of significantly greater severity than Hawaii, with minimal domestic capacity for infrastructure investment and extreme supply chain exposure for repair and maintenance materials.
Pulley, Warren. "Infrastructure Deficit and Island Resilience in Hawaii." Island Security Policy Institute, 2026. https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/hi06-infrastructure-deficit.html