But with trial comes the risk of error.

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In fact, most of the highly precautionary laws and regulations currently on the books include some form of risk assessment that error on the side of caution, building in a host of safety factors that substantially overestimate exposure to justify regulatory actions that may not be necessary.

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All that is very tempting: unfortunately, as they become embedded in an operation, they increase the risk of data corruption or human error.

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Space-flight veterans in the company are well aware of the trial-and-error nature of technology development, but they also know risk is an essential part of innovation.

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The trick is to be no higher in risk than you can handle, including a margin of error.

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In his classic book, The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham, proposed that risk averse investors seek a margin of safety, or leave room for error, to protect themselves from both poor decisions and market downturns.

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But these were not normal conditions, and because of the risk we were taking, we needed a huge margin for error.

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The second, bigger, error that the Army has made is to try to transfer much of the program risk to industry.

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In the aftermath of the big trading error, Knight also said it would create a board-level risk committee and a chief risk officer position.

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