known knowns
Facts we recognize
Known knowns are things we know that we know—facts or information we're aware of possessing.
The phrase comes from a 2002 Pentagon briefing that distinguished known knowns from known unknowns (gaps in knowledge we're aware of) and unknown unknowns (things we don't know we don't know).
The framework has since spread to risk assessment, project management, and epistemology: Start with the known knowns and work outward.
State of perceiving reality
- cognitionMental knowledge acquisition
- understandingMental comprehension of something
- comprehensionMental understanding of meaning
- familiarityKnowledge through experience
recognition · conscious · certainty · facts · evidence · data · information · accepted
Confirmed as accurate
- confirmedEstablished as accurate
- establishedFormally set up
- provenEstablished as fact
- factualGrounded in truth
undeniable · evident · documented · acknowledged · recognized · clear-cut · indisputable · validated
Process of choosing actions
- planningArranging for future events
- intelligenceMental ability, cognitive capacity
- briefingConcise information session
- inventoryCatalog of held assets
Rumsfeld · audit · reconnaissance · assessment · framework · analysis · assumptions · parameters
awareness
State of perceiving reality
- cognitionMental knowledge acquisition
- understandingMental comprehension of something
- comprehensionMental understanding of meaning
familiarity · recognition · conscious · certainty · facts · evidence · data · information · accepted · consensus
verified
Confirmed as accurate
- confirmedEstablished as accurate
- establishedFormally set up
- provenEstablished as fact
factual · undeniable · evident · documented · acknowledged · recognized · clear-cut · indisputable · validated · authenticated
decision-making
Process of choosing actions
- planningArranging for future events
- intelligenceMental ability, cognitive capacity
- briefingConcise information session
Rumsfeld · inventory · audit · reconnaissance · assessment · framework · analysis · assumptions · parameters · constraints
known knownsunknown unknowns
Things beyond awareness entirely
blind spots · black swans · known unknowns · terra incognita · uncharted territory
known knownsmysteries
Unexplained phenomena or events
imponderables · wild cards · chaos · fog of war · uncharted territory
known, knowns, know, knows, knew, knowing, knowingly, knowledge, knowledgeable