Red team and presidential office for civil affairs

When the Vatican canonized Mother Teresa, who were respected for being the Helper of the Poor, as a saint, it asked Christopher Hitchens, a British journalist, for help. He wrote “The Missionary Position” in 1995, two years before Mother Teresa’s death. In the book, he criticized that she is the head of a multinational missionary business and a fundamentalist religious entrepreneur, rather than a saint. The role that he played was a “devil’s advocate.”

In Catholics, a role that recommends a person who is deemed appropriate to be a saint for his or her miracle or clear achievements is “God’s advocate.” The devil’s advocate makes counterarguments, opening up the saint candidate’s faults or errors. It is similar to using the “good cop/ bad cop” tactics to extract a confession from a suspect.

A red team in the military refers to a group playing a role of a hypothetical enemy that challenges the military to improve its effectiveness. The U.S. Army has an educational institution called the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies or UFMCS, which produces Red Team members. Its curriculum is based on the assumption that is deemed sacrosanct.

As prime minister and minister candidates revealed problems that failed to be unscreened, the presidential office decided to create a read team to reinforce the screening process. Now, it appears to accept the advice from the report on state affairs published by the Democratic Institute, the think tank of the ruling Minjoo Party. “Former presidents saw their approval rating rise in the early stage, peak around the sixth months and decline starting from the 18 month," the report said. The presidential office needs a team dedicated to screen candidates from the outsider’s perspective based on the lessons learned from previous administrations.” The Roh Moo-hyun administration and the Moon Jae-in administration stress the morality of their administration. However, the idea could be risky as it leads to a groupthink that I am the only one who is morally right. Creating a red team is a good thing but what is more needed is to revisit the role of the presidential office for civil affairs, which is supposed to observe civil affairs and report them to the president.