The University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies (UFMCS), brings a unique, tailored approach to providing education focused on decision support.The core of our curriculum is based on the following four pillars:
Expanding on the words of psychologist Dietrich Dörner, people court failure in predictable ways, by degrees, almost imperceptibly, and according to their own culture and context. In other words, we routinely take shortcuts because of limitations on time, personnel, or other resources, and we accept that as a normal way of doing business. We assume we understand situations because we have been in similar ones before, and we turn a blind eye to ambiguity, or don’t fully appreciate asymmetries. We discount potential threats because we don’t fully appreciate the likelihood of occurrence or the complexity of influencing factors. We make many small decisions that are individually “close enough,” but when joined together, become the seeds of failure. We take comfort in the familiar, and assume others, even on the other side of the world, share our views, beliefs, and tendencies. These reasons and more are why we Red Team.
“Every assumption we hold, every claim, every assertion, every single one of them must be challenged.” – CSA Mark A. Milley
Like Red Teaming itself, each class is audience-focused, tailored for topic, time and resources available, venue, and desired result. Sessions are heavily interactive. Students actively practice techniques and employ tools in an iterative manner, constantly building on their knowledge and abilities. This facilitates development of levels of proficiency only possible through hands-on application, and helps ensure graduates can confidently apply their knowledge outside the classroom.
We borrow techniques, methods, frameworks, and best practices from several sources and disciplines to create an education and practical application method that we find to be the best safeguard against individual and organizational tendencies toward biases, errors in cognition, and groupthink. Our approach has proven effective in units and organizations from brigades to the Joint Staff.