Overcoming a legacy of broken pledges is just one of many hurdles in any future journey towards conceiving, authorizing, resourcing then carefully cultivating BW&T partnerships with any future partner. Yet instead of developing processes to ensure these myriad challenges are overcome, gut instinct and partisan politics still dominate U.S. decision-making on partnered operations, while informed analytic approaches to assess the risks, rewards, and requirements for successful BW&T are absent. Though there is no avoiding realpolitik, history makes a compelling demand for better tools to answer the critical questions of with whom, why, how and when to invest (or divest) from BW&T operations. One possible option: Motive International’s Social Contract Assessment Tool (SCAT).