Operating Risk Intelligence in an Age of Information Abundance
Andrew Chester

Juno Risk Solutions
Annapolis, Maryland

Andrew Chester

Abstract

Intelligence is what business refers to as risk assessment. While financial risk management has matured in recent decades – along with a solid discipline based upon quantitative measures of risk – other non-financial operating risks have not been systematically treated with the predictive analytics, data mining or knowledge management tools that have been emerging. This corporate need can draw its intellectual lineage from government and military intelligence doctrines developed over the last 60 years; the requirements of the corporate risk intelligence community are richer, more quantitative and heavily reliant upon open sources for their information solutions. This presentation will define the relationship and highlight the distinctions between government and corporate risk intelligence needs. It will argue that the exacting needs of business decisions require a quantification of risk to a much greater extent than the typical intelligence consumer. The focus for solution development should be on discovering, vetting and exploiting unique data and open information sources for quantifiable decision-making in a scalable and repeatable fashion. It will conclude with a framework for approaching the development of operating risk solutions using technology to exploit a dynamic interaction between risk takers and risk modelers.

Short bio

Chester worked for two decades in Canadian naval intelligence, where he pioneered the application of open sources of information to a broad range of intelligence problems. He was the principal architect of the Canadian Maritime Network, a command and control system that coordinated all Canadian federal maritime surveillance efforts. On behalf of NATO, Chester developed and directed its Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Initiative. In this role, he spearheaded a groundbreaking innovation to integrate commercial information sources with classified intelligence. Chester authored several prominent monographs on analytic techniques and international trade, including a piece titled "Intelligence Exploitation of the Internet," and co-authored "The NATO Open Source Intelligence Handbook."

Following his naval career, he has continued his work fusing intelligence, business and legal concepts into information solutions for governments and corporations. He has created intelligence solutions for corporate risk, border security and trade-based risk assessment. Chester serves as a principal in Juno Risk Solutions, an international provider of products and services that enables companies to embed transaction risk quantification into their business processes. He is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada and the U.S. Naval War College. Chester also earned a master’s degree from the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, and holds a J.D. from the College of William & Mary School of Law. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar.