All who posted; Thank you very much for the assistance!

When I started looking at this, I would get as far as "time sensitive" and scratch my head. Crisis denotes a sense of urgency to respond, but can be natural or man-made, obvious and slowly approaching or sudden and unexpected. The risk to human life can be immediate or extremely indirect. The outcome may or may not be altered by human actions. The outcome made be made significantly worse by human action (Doh!).

When I wear a uniform, the answer is easy; whatever the President or officers with authority delegated by the president identify as a crisis (one of the mixed blessings of being an officer in democratic nation's military). But as a citizen or a policy maker, I can't take this 'easy out'.

I think the greatest insight came from your collective sarcasm, cynicism, and wit. As Jerry Pournelle described 'surprise' as an event that takes place in the mind of a commander, 'crisis' also is an event that takes place in the mind. 'Crisis' is also a powerful tool for shaping perceptions of an issue, and like fire and so many other tools, can be used for good or evil.

With your permissions, I'd like to quote y'all in a project I'm working on. If you would prefer to remain anonymous, just drop me a line.

Thanks again for all your help.

Van