Are decision-makers looking where the risks are actually emerging?
The Strategic Attention Index compares two independently sourced measurements: a risk-severity axis taken from a published, third-party expert assessment, and an attention axis built from documented public proxies — legislative mention frequency, share of relevant budget lines, and share of senior-official speeches.
Sourcing the two axes independently is what gives the measure its integrity: because the same analyst does not judge both severity and attention, the attention gap is a comparison between two separate measurements rather than a restatement of one worldview.
Crucially, a gap is a flag for inquiry, not a verdict of failure. Attention is finite, and some gaps reflect legitimate triage. Each flagged gap is a question — why is attention low here? — not an automatic indictment.
Method
Risk axis
Severity taken from a named, external expert assessment, not the analyst.
Attention axis
A composite of reproducible public proxies, validated against hand-coded samples.
The gap
Severity minus attention — a positive gap flags an under-attended risk.
Reading the gap
A flag for inquiry, weighed against legitimate triage and capacity limits.