Monday, June 28, 2010
Scenario planning and spying
The top news story in the US today was the arrest of 10 people alleged to be Russian “deep cover” agents tasked with infiltrating US policymaking circles. An intriguing detail - one which reminds us of the Cold War history of scenario planning (and futures studies more generally) and underlines the continuing widespread usage of scenario planning methods in top policymaking circles today - is that one of those arrested, Donald Heathfield, a Harvard Kennedy School of Government graduate, developed his career as a professional scenario planner. Heathfield is CEO of Future Map, a scenario planning consultancy, is a published author on the subject and in 2009, filed a U.S. patent application for his own scenario planning method.
Picture: Kremlin star (by Ghirlandajo, used under Creative Commons licensing via Wikimedia Commons)
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Organizations
Acceleration Studies Foundation, USA
The Centre for Scenario Planning and Future Studies, University of Strathclyde, UK
Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, Denmark
Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, University of Hawaii, USA
Institute for Alternative Futures, USA
Oxford Scenarios Program, Oxford University, UK
RAND Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and the Future Human Condition, USA
Scenario Planning Institute, Colorado State University, USA
World Futures Studies Federation
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