Creating Order Out Of Chaos

When I was searching for the theme for the Journal’s inaugural issue, I knew that I wanted to start at the beginning – with the foundation of behavioral profiling. With a behavior detection and assessment approach to separating the enemy from the crowd he hides amongst, everything begins with the baseline. Every observation, every decision, and every piece of actionable intelligence starts by understanding the norm in the area. Being able to look at the complexity of human behavior and turn that mass of information into something meaningful is all about creating order out of the apparent chaos. Some people think that this is too daunting of a task. This issue is about why they are wrong and why a new officer, in any field, can begin establishing their baseline their first day on the job.

The title and theme for this issue is centered on that specific focus – Creating Order Out Of Chaos. I use the word “creating” for a reason as well. It isn’t about “finding” order and it isn’t about “searching” for order. There is nothing about observing behavior that involves aimlessly stumbling through a process or hoping that you will eventually figure it out. This is about using a purposeful approach to create the conditions that our nation’s protectors need to outsmart an ever-adapting enemy.

This is where the Journal will begin, by removing the chaos from our observations, which is only possible if the underlying patterns that are present are first understood. This is possible in any setting and gets us beyond the limitations of other approaches that only work in specific settings or situations. Once these patterns are understood, it becomes easier to begin predicting someone’s future actions by revealing their intentions. It also allows you to quickly find the people who warrant additional attention because they are the ones who break from the pattern that everyone else is following. This allows an observer to become confident in what they are seeing and the assessments they are making.

Identifying and communicating these patterns is the driving question for the main article in this issue, “Defining The Human Terrain – Revealing Core Patterns.” Following the discussion about how to establish the baseline for whatever area you find yourself in and how to attain this level of understanding quickly upon arriving in a new area, there will be two follow-up pieces that discuss this from two different perspectives. The first response, “Learning Your Beat,” ties this concept, which is taught to deploying Marines, to the way that police officers strive to learn the dynamics of the neighborhoods they patrol each day. The second article, “Training Beyond The Physical Terrain,” looks at the issue of failing to learn the human terrain from a strategic perspective.

This concept is expanded upon in this issue’s development video, where we begin identifying people who are familiar and unfamiliar with their surroundings. This video takes the process of establishing a baseline and finding anomalies for specific settings, such as a transit station.

The last article is in our Professional Warrior section, “Priming Your Brain, A Guide To Learning,” which discusses the link between learning and exercise. Becoming adept at these skills requires practice until it becomes a habit and readers can take steps that improve retention, increasing the likelihood that the lessons we teach are recalled in the times that they are needed.

We are excited to begin offering readers high-quality articles and access to training resources not previously offered on the site to make sure our nation’s protectors have the access to what they need to get left of bang. These new materials, along with our existing content will aide you even further in separating the enemy from the crowd and taking control of your own safety in the fight against insurgents, criminals and any other potential threat.

Thanks for reading and welcome to The CP Journal.