The Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications (SMART) Subsea Cables initiative seeks to revolutionize deep ocean observing by equipping transoceanic telecommunications cables with sensors to provide novel and persistent insights into the state of the ocean to monitor climate change including ocean heat content, circulation, and sea level rise, provide early warning for earthquakes and tsunamis, and monitor seismic activity for earth structure and related hazards. 

The SMART Subsea Cables initiative is led by a Joint Task Force (JTF) made up of three United Nations organizations: the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The JTF is responsible for charting a path for the implementation of SMART monitoring capabilities into new cable installations worldwide.

The SMART International Program Office (IPO) is the executive branch of the JTF and is responsible for carrying out its recommendations in pursuit of broad SMART adoption. In this role the IPO acts in oversight and managerial capacities as the unifying executive agency bridging the many relevant stakeholder communities pertinent to SMART implementation.