Command Red Team

Command Red Team Organization
issues. During mission execution, the team should also be represented on or within
appropriate boards, centers, cells, or working groups.
e. Performance Standards. Many aspects of red teaming do not readily lend
themselves to simple quantification. The output of a well-integrated team may be
seamlessly incorporated into the staff’s final product or published as a stand-alone
product; however, the results may not be readily quantifiable. The red team’s ultimate
measures of success are not the number of independent products published, or whether its
assessments are accurate, or whether its suggestions are adopted, or whether its projected
wildcards or unintended consequences actually occur. The team should instead be rated
on the quality of its reasoning, the depth and scope of its insight, the professionalism of
its products and staff interactions, and the quality and scale of its actual, though often
intangible, contributions to the staff’s work.
4. Command Red Team Membership Considerations
a. Selection Criteria. Unique life experiences, unconventional educations, and
distinct personality traits can often contribute to the development of a keen strategist, an
insightful analyst, or a thoughtful advisor. Red team member selection should likewise
consider factors beyond traditional career development paths, professional military
education, and technical training. Regardless of natural talents, red team members should
receive formal red team training.
b. Diversity. A team composed of members drawn from different functional areas
or analytic backgrounds is more likely to frame problems using a wider range of
alternative perspectives, to recognize a more varied set of weak assumptions, and to see a
more complex mix of threats and opportunities. In addition, teams drawn from a variety
of career fields and experiences tend to have more credibility across the staff and may be
able to provide meaningful support more quickly than a team with less varied
backgrounds. A team drawn solely from a single functional area can, over time, come to
be seen as a competitor by members of that functional area or only relevant to that
functional area.
c. Turnover. The periodic influx of new talent can enhance the team’s credibility
and promote new thinking. New team members can also help avoid a stagnating team
that unknowingly begins to perpetuate its own hidden assumptions and biases or that
unconsciously begins to conform to the staff’s positions. In addition, the stress of
constantly advocating unorthodox positions and combating organizational influences can
over time cause some individuals to censor themselves, avoid engagement, or lose
morale.
5. Command Red Team Leader
a. Responsibilities. Next to the commander and COS, the red team leader has the
greatest impact on the ability of the team to support the staff. The team leader represents
the team to the commander and the staff, and the team’s success will depend on the
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