Playing the Devil’s Advocate In International Relations

“Red Teaming” is a concept that can trace its origins to the year 1234 when Pope Gregory the IX created the position of Devils Advocate to vet Papal canonization’s. In more modern times, the process has been increasingly used by militaries, the foreign policy bureaucracy and even the private sector to question assumptions and challenge groupthink.

Micah Zenko is a Council on Foreign Relations fellow who has written what is arguably the first and definitely the most comprehensive examination of Red Teaming, its history and modern applications. His new book is called “Red Team: How to Succeed by Thinking like the Enemy” and is a supremely interesting investigation into a little studied aspect of national security and foreign policy making.

We kick off with a brief discussion of how the Talmud can teach us about preparing for the Zombie apocalypse.