Purpose: This study aims to explain how the perception and interpretation of security crises are culturally constructed and to develop a framework for applying cognitive skills in the sensemaking process. The central problem addressed is how, when confronted with complex, multilayered, and evolving security crises, actors draw upon their cognitive skills to make sense of crisis signals, interpret ambiguous situations, and construct an understanding of threats and the trajectory of developments. Accordingly, adopting a qualitative approach, this study seeks to develop an integrated framework explaining the relationships among cognitive skills, strategies for developing these skills, internal and external organizational contexts, and their consequences within the sensemaking process of security crises.

Methodology: Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 19 experts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq and analyzed using thematic analysis. In this phase, basic, organizing, and overarching themes were identified across five main domains: cognitive skills, cognitive skill development strategies, internal organizational factors, external organizational factors, and outcomes.

Findings: The field study findings indicate that the construction of the perception and interpretation of security crises is a multilayered process shaped by the interaction of actors’ cognitive capabilities, mechanisms for developing these capabilities, and organizational and environmental contexts. Analysis of the expert interviews resulted in the identification of four main domains—cognitive inputs, cognitive development strategies, influential contexts, and outcomes—which were organized into a total of 12 overarching themes. The findings demonstrate that perceptual awareness in the crisis environment, strategic interpretation of security situations, and cognitive flexibility in crisis management constitute the core of the sensemaking process. Through this process, actors make sense of ambiguous and evolving events by monitoring developments, identifying latent patterns, interpreting the meanings and underlying motivations of events, and mentally reconstructing the crisis situation. These cognitive capabilities are developed through the institutionalization of situational learning, the strengthening of cognitive interactions, and the cultivation of mental preparedness under conditions of ambiguity. Furthermore, the dynamics of decision-making structures, professional trust, organizational perceptual stability, pressure from transnational actors, socio-political instability, and disruption arising from an open information environment shape and influence the perception and interpretation of crises. Ultimately, this process contributes to enhanced cognitive resilience, greater legitimacy of and trust in crisis decisions, and the development of capacity for transformation in crisis governance.