Did Bin Laden use heuristics or satisfice?
As mentioned earlier, one criticism of the rational choice approach was made by Herbert Simon [[iii]], who claimed that individuals could not really perform the analytic process demanded by it, because they are limited by their cognitive abilities, by time constraints and stress. Instead, individuals use heuristics – shortcuts – when making their decisions and often satisfice instead of attempting to find the maximizing option. In the case of Bin Laden’s decision, in view of the reports of how the considerations and formation of the plan took place [[iv]], it does not seem that this is the case. According to interrogations of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad that were done after he was captured, there were lengthy discussions between him and Bin Laden regarding the choice of target, and the option chosen was undertaken after careful consideration and not at a whim or out of pressure to choose any one option that met basic criteria – that satisficed [[v]]. Therefore it seems that this explanation
