Never wing it!

RISK management these days is no longer contained at a purely operational level. It has covered all facets of an organization. The difference between a private and a public organization is that risks are contained in the private because they drill themselves to death before an event becomes a crisis. They have established protocols of red flags, determining what event could potentially lead to a crisis and attending to it even before it becomes one. That is done via a crisis management manual that is adopted, refined and exercised, and again refined, adopted and exercised. The reiterative process prepares muscle memory to simulate things and learn from it. Thus, the private sector is often prepared to meet any eventuality.

Crisis management "is the process by which an organization deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organization or its stakeholders." There are five stages of crisis management: prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Where is the public sector in these stages? Have they adopted these in ground operations?