For those of us who remember the government inquiry into 911, after it had happened, one of the more striking phrases or explanations was when Condoleezza Rice spoke of a failure of imagination. Despite the fact that there were indeed reports and indications that a terrorist attack against the United States was in the planning stages, and despite the fact that there was of course a blizzard of information as there always is confronting the United States, she pointed to a failure of the imagination as behind the tragedies of September 11, 2001. Essentially, and unfortunately, the representatives of the United States were unable to imagine an attack of the nature and scale of September 11.
Nowadays, terrorism has fortunately taken on a less dramatic but still important impact on the world stage. As consultants with respect to international security, primarily but not exclusively for corporations and other organizations, terrorism is but one of the scenarios in which we work as we help to plan for events that we hope will never come to pass. Like insurance, the imagination of an expert international security consultant is something that you never really hope to come true in the sense of need. We use our skill and our imagination as experts in international security, as well as our detailed knowledge from past experience and education, so that we can help you as a company imagine at the planning level the types of international security threats that your company may face.
In International Security Consulting Imagination is as Important as Knowledge
It was Albert Einstein who said that imagination was more important than knowledge. Similarly, however, imagination without knowledge is not particularly helpful. In addition, when you’re dealing with something such as international security, being systematic is very important. As international security experts including with respect to overseas threat assessments, we will systematically walk you through a security audit of your organization, employees, and other security vulnerabilities, as well as an assessment of the potential threats that you may face.
As we imagine, so to speak, various scenarios, we may look at factors such as which countries you are involved in. We may look at factors such as medical emergency scenarios such as outbreaks or plagues, factors such as civil wars or political unrest, factors such as terrorism on a large scale or incidents such as kidnappings on a small scale. The purpose of our audit is to look both internally at your organization, including the mindsets that you and your employees use, and to look externally at the larger country and global situation.
After we have worked with you on this initial assessments, looking both internally and externally, then we will be able to help you create a plan. It is important before an incident occurs, to use this type of approach. In this way, if the worst comes to pass and an incident does occur, during the incident you will have planned for that particular scenario, to the extent possible within the limitations of our knowledge.. And, of course, after an incident occurs, we will work with you to assess what was done correctly, and what was done incorrectly, what you could have done differently, and what you could have done better, if at all.
International security problems come in a range of shapes and sizes, and by working together, we as consultants in the international security area can help you to imagine every possible shape or size. Our goal, to the extent possible, is not to succumb to a failure of imagination.