This morning's attack suggests that no degree of caution may be enough.
Miliband rejected counsels of caution and attacked Rupert Murdoch hard over illegal phone hacking by journalists at News International.
But assuming they make it to Brazil, their approach is likely to be one of caution mixed with counter-attacks.
Still, the NATO countries flying ground-attack missions operate under different degrees of caution when striking targets that could hurt civilians or damage mosques, schools or hospitals, complicating the campaign, a senior American military official said.
She continues:"In Rwanda, in 1995, the Ministry of Information, failing to distinguish between criticism and incitement - and perhaps erring on the side of caution - launched an attack on the entire media sector and impounded several papers".
Even if this seems like an overabundance of caution, in this environment of recent attacks against Westerners in Belgium, Paris, and London, why put anyone at risk?
One note of caution: the more services you use, the more your attack surface is increased.
Australians travelling to Indonesia have been advised to exercise a high degree of caution following US government warnings about potential terrorist attacks.
Even America's security services, which might be expected to err on the side of caution, seem to agree that the odds of a bioterror attack are long.
Whatever the reasons, both women seemed reluctant to attack, and in the eyes of the referee, each erred on the side of caution.
