From the Lessons Learned Office

FROM: DEPARTMENT OF LESSONS LEARNED
TO: POTUS           
RE: FUTURE FOREIGN POLICY ADVENTURES

Mr. President,
We got your hurried directive of Wednesday morning to "bring me up to speed on what the hell has been going on around here and why everyone is so upset about it." We are offering a set of guidelines, which we confidently believe the blame for not following can be completely and solely placed on Don Rumsfeld.  

Before beginning a foreign policy adventure, please consult the following checklist:

- Have you specified every action you intend performing in this country or region?  (Include the identities of the actors, the range of possible actions, the accuracy of your predictions about those actions, and the intensity of the actions.)

- Is every foreseeable effect within this country specified?  (Include the range of possible effects, the likely aims of those reacting to the original actions, their intensity and type.)

- Do you know how and from whom you will get reliable information from within the country or region?

- Is this information redundant, reliable, and valid?

- Where information is not available before the action begins, are the areas of incompleteness specified?

- Have cultural and linguistic differences been considered?  Do we know very much about this place?

- Do you know how long the action, and its consequences and effects will last?  Does the public know, and do they agree that the time-frame is reasonable?

- Do you know how to determine accurately the status of the action?

- Is the strategy for detecting errors or mistakes  specified?

- Are acceptable trade-offs between competing results specified--for example between democracy and stability?

- Are you uneasy about any part of the plan?  Are some parts of the plan impossible to achieve but included just to please some internal or external constituency?

- Does each aim of the action avoid contradicting conflicts with other aims?

- Are the aims and plans clear enough and agreeable enough to all to survive hand-over to another administration and still be understood and pursued?

- Is each aim relevant to the overall problem and its solution?  

- Will it be possible to objectively determine whether the aims have been achieved?

- Is the definition of success included?  Of failure?

Sincerely,
Office of Lessons Learned

P.S.  Say, Mr. President, I'm updating my resume.  You wouldn't be willing to write a letter of recommendation, would you?

•  makes you wonder

  what they're really doing at Lessons Learned this week.

  by kay dub on Thu Nov 09, 2006 at 10:11:43 AM PDT