Good strategy is elusive. Some people can read The Art of War every day and never generate a single good strategy, while others can outthink Sun Tzu without ever opening a book. Reading can help, and so can training, but the effect is limited when an exploitable mindset prevails. Americans, for example, tend to emphasize technology and forget that every gadget comes with at least one new liability, usually several. [click to continue ...]
From the category archives:
The Red Team Toolkit
Regular RTJ readers will remember the article by Michael Skroch from last December titled “Modeling and Simulation of Red Teaming, Part 1.” For those who are interested in this topic, it’s worth visiting the updated Umbra site. The site offers information on the Umbra simulation engine as well as Dante, Operations Viewshed, and other related tools. As the site notes, “Umbra and derivative applications are generally export controlled, and are available for U.S. government use. Umbra may be available for universities and industries through various licensing arrangement[s].”
Red teaming remains stuck in the Wild West phase of its maturity. One of the main culprits is the lack of shared terms—a lack that makes it difficult for red teamers to compare methods, communicate insights, and, ultimately, build a consistent and structured discipline. IEEE 1471 can help. [click to continue ...]
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Awareness that traditional methods of assessing the risk of adversary attack are inadequate seems to be growing. One example is this SRA press release from last month referring to Parnell, Smith, and Moxley’s work. Another example is this DHS announcement. [click to continue ...]
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We are pleased to post the first in a series of articles by Michael J. Skroch of Sandia Labs on the modeling and simulation of red teaming. Michael is a founding member of the red teaming community and is well known within the community as a proponent of better red teaming methods and practices. He has written this article specifically for Red Team Journal and its readers. We believe the article is likely to become a standard reference in the field. You may download it as a PDF here.
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In the past few months, I’ve posted a couple of items here about a new red teaming approach I’ve developed called “reciprocal net assessment” (RNA). This new RNA presentation stops short of describing the method in detail, but it does describe the need for the approach and a bit about the concepts behind it. If you have any questions or would like to learn more, you can contact me through Alternative Analysis.
In the past few months, I have built and refined an approach to analysis I have dubbed reciprocal net assessment (RNA). It is based on principles inherent in hypergame analysis and is designed to encourage analysts and decision makers to avoid decision breakdowns and create and exploit decision opportunities. Although I am still refining the approach, I now believe it is ready for testing. I am currently offering pro bono analysis of two cases: one military- or security-related and the other business-related. If you might be interested in submitting a case for consideration, read on. [click to continue ...]
The one-day Alidade Institute seminar “New Methods in Analytical Red Teaming” is rescheduled for June 10 in Washington, DC. At the seminar, I will discuss specific ways of improving the process of red teaming using a simplified form of hypergame analysis. More information is available at the Alidade site. If you have questions regarding the seminar content, you can contact me directly at editor at redteamjournal dot com.
The Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) recently released a collection of the writings of Cold War strategists Albert and Roberta Wohlstetter. Both Wohlstetters were tremendously influential in the development of security studies as a serious intellectual and practical pursuit. Albert pioneered new methods of policy analysis and challenged establishment beliefs about deterrence and nuclear strategy, and Roberta wrote a pioneering study called Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision that persuasively explained the intelligence failure that led to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Nuclear Heuristics: Selected Writings of Albert and Roberta Wohlstetter should be of use to anyone seeking to understand the development of modern strategic studies and its relation to current threats.
I recently asked the RTJ team to recommend the influential books they think the well-informed red teamer should read. I intended to create a top-ten list, but with so many good suggestions, I decided to go with them all. I invite RTJ readers to comment, critique, and chime in. Do you agree or disagree? What are we missing? [click to continue ...]
