Complex humanitarian emergencies lack a mechanism to coordinate, communicate, assess, and evaluate response and outcome for the major participants (United Nations, International Committee of the Red Cross, non-governmental organizations and military forces). Success in these emergencies will depend on the ability to accomplish agreed upon measures of effectiveness (MOEs). A recent civil-military humanitarian exercise demonstrated the ability of participants to develop consensus-driven MOEs. These MOEs combined security measures utilized by the military with humanitarian indicators recognized by relief organizations. Measures of effectiveness have the potential to be a unifying disaster management tool and a partial solution to the communication and coordination problems inherent in these complex emergencies.