Proactive Preparation for Crisis Decisions

Crisis decisions made by governments typically involve either natural and humanitarian disasters or actions of terrorists or other nations. Making quality decisions for such crises requires a thorough understanding of the objectives to be achieved, the range of alternatives to consider, and their potential consequences. However, once a crisis decision is recognized, the available time to develop such an understanding is often severely limited. This article provides concepts and procedures to help senior policy makers identify in advance the key foundational components of crisis decisions. Then, when a crisis occurs that requires a quick response, the proactively constructed decision foundation provides the basis to fine-tune a specific response quickly. As a result, more of the available time can be focused on important aspects of the specific decision that could not have been examined earlier. This decision-focused proactive preparation should lead to better informed crisis decisions with better consequences for our nation and its citizens.