An unnecessary risk is defined as...

• A. One that is unavoidable
• B. One that will not contribute to the task or mission or will unnecessarily jeopardize personnel or materiel
• C. One that contributes to the task or mission
• D. One that is only financial

Answer: (B)

Unnecessary risk means a risk that does not help accomplish the task or mission and adds exposure to people or equipment without justification. In risk management, you’re always weighing risk against the potential mission benefit. If a risk doesn’t provide any real advantage or improvement, and it only increases the chance of harm or loss, it should be avoided or mitigated. For example, choosing a more dangerous approach when a safer option would achieve the same objective shows an unnecessary risk. Some risks are part of doing the mission and can be acceptable if they’re justified by a clear benefit, but those aren’t unnecessary. The other ideas—risk that’s unavoidable, risk that actually contributes to the mission, or a risk limited to finances—don’t fit because they either imply some mission benefit or a risk you can’t or shouldn’t avoid.