Federal Foresight Community of Interest Turns Five

The answer: The U.S. Forest Service – 100 to 150 years – because it takes a long time to grow a forest!

An intrepid band of foresight analysts from across the federal government met last week to continue their regular round of sharing insights and practices. The group quietly celebrated their fifth year of informally gatherings and the band of volunteers who organize the meetings announced the creation of a community website.

Magnifying the Voice of the Future

Dr. Boston, visiting the U.S. on a Fulbright Scholarship, sums up some of his initial research on how the U.S. and several other democratic countries address long-term policy issues, in a recent presentation at American University. Background. Dr. Boston says that there are a number of important societal problems that reach beyond the span of an election cycle, and that for political leaders there can be “a temptation for intergenerational buck-passing.

Federal Government Reform Resources: Anticipatory Governance Report

Former Vice Presidential National Security Advisor Leon Fuerth, working with Evan Faber, has released a white paper that has been a decade in the making.  The paper describes how the federal government is increasingly facing challenges of greater complexity that demand faster action than the current institutional structures can respond to effectively.

Can We Predict the Future More Accurately?

Using Strategic Foresight: Interview with CDR Eric Popiel, US Coast Guard

Strategic foresight is not futuristic forecasting. Foresight is about being able to perceive the significance and nature of events before they have occurred. It is about having the imagination to be prepared for what may come, regardless of which scenario occurs – it’s a mindset, not a process. It is about going beyond the tyranny of the present and preparing the best you can for the uncertainty of the future