Aptitude for Destruction (Vol 2), RAND Corporation/Review, J. Colannino

Aptitude for Destruction (Vol 2) (is a 216 page document produced by the RAND Corporation for the National Institute for Justice. It applies organizational learning (OL) and learning organizations (LO) to terrorist groups. Volume 2 highlights case studies of four terrorist organizations from an OL perspective: Aum Shinrikyo, Hizballah, Jemaah Islamiyah, and the Provisional Irish Republican Army. It deliberately avoids discussion of Al Qaeda owing to its changing complexity. The authors have found OL principles to be a useful for understanding terrorist organizations. If your company promotes OL, there is an irony here that I suppose is best left unstated.

The last chapters discuss a four-component OL model comprising

1. knowledge acquisition
2. distribution
3. storage
4. interpretation

For useful definitions regarding knowledge management, see my wiki entry here. The knowledge model I have developed in my studies is very similar, differing mostly by name than content:

1. knowledge creation
2. knowledge sharing
3. knowledge safekeeping
4. wisdom building

It is a very ancient fact in human endeavor that knowledge can be used for evil or good. This is where my item 4 differs from RAND’s. I doubt that many would consider terrorism to be wise. Indubitably, however, terrorist organizations do interpret data, albeit for an evil purpose. In this regard, Rand’s item 4 is more general than mine. At the time I had developed my fourfold division, I had never considered terrorist organizations; for the sake of my organization, I am happy about this. If you believe that knowledge management applies to terrorism, then my definition is insufficient.