Whether pursuing extranational terrorists or distributed crime syndicates, those responsible for national security and law enforcement face a future more complicated and multifaceted than anticipated even ten years ago. From virtual worlds to culturally-acceptable piracy to crowd-sourced intelligence, the spheres and scope of such work is expanding. Pinyon’s National Security & Law Enforcement (NSLE) practice is focused on exploring the emerging and future intersections of technology, society, practice, and governance in the context of social order and defense of the nation.

While the Pinyon NSLE practice is heavy on policy, we also work with organizations that are interested in discrete operational issues as well. Regardless of specific foci, Pinyon clients appreciate the critical importance of approaching national security and law enforcement futures through a broad context of disciplines, such as:

• Virtual identities and communities
• Changing understandings of self and community
• Systems of value and alternate economies
• Encryption and communications security
• Surveillance and counter-surveillance
• Distributed networks and nongeographies
• Wealth and philanthropy
• Transnational corporations and competitive intelligence
• Specialization and crowd-sourcing

We help our clients: prepare for unexpected developments, understand and leverage emerging trends, analyze long-term implications of near-term choices, develop growth and business plans that are responsive to ambiguity and rapid change, track noncore-but-potentially-critical developments in peripheral subjects, and more.

Insight from Pinyon NSLE