People who practice situational awareness can often spot the planning processes of criminals and terrorists as they unfold. Because situational awareness, or being cognizant of one's surroundings and identifying potential threats and dangerous situations, is more of a mindset than a hard skill, it is not something that can be practiced only by highly trained government agents or specialized corporate security teams. Indeed, it can be exercised by anyone with the will and the discipline to do so. Consequently, situational awareness is one of the key building blocks of effective personal security — and when exercised by large numbers of people, it can also be an important facet of national security. People typically operate on five distinct levels of awareness, which are illustrated in the graphic above and explained in depth in this Stratfor Security Weekly on the fundamentals of terrorism.
