Sean Roche sends this commentary on the dream team concept:
Why do you need to “staff a government dream team” to tap into the creative intelligence of the country. The Office of Homeland Security should put up a web site with an e-mail link: Send us your terrorist plots. Give a $1000 bounty to anyone who submits a new one, $250 to anyone who suggests a new twist on an old one.
If we weren’t worried about giving the bad guys the wrong idea, it would be a great ‘blog. Call it “The Red Team” after the intelligence groups supposed to imagine scenarios for the blue team to counter. Solicit ideas from anyone.
A big ‘yup’ there. I agree with Sean that a blog — while it would make a mighty interesting read — isn’t such a great idea, but I’m not sure I see any downside from a submit-only website. (And let us not forget the less geeky among us — a nice old analog phone number would be helpful as well). I do think, though, that this idea is complimentary to the dream team concept, not a replacement — I think creative types in collaboration can end up with a “greater whole than the sum of its parts”, in some cases.
A common theme seems to be emerging here — why isn’t the government of the most creative, cantankerous, and skilled nation on the planet actually leveraging the skills and talents of its people? (For another spin on this theme, points us to David Rothkopf’s piece in Foreign Policy, which makes the case for leveraging the talents of America’s business community to fight terrorism).
You can also check out Sean’s blog here.