1. A method for authorization to adaptively control access to a resource, comprising the steps of: retrieving at least one role for a principal from one of: 1) a first hierarchy; and 2) a first cache; retrieving a policy from one of: 1) a second hierarchy; and 2) a second cache; providing for the evaluation of the policy based on the at least one role; determining whether to grant the principal access to the resource based on the evaluation of the policy; wherein the at least one role is retrieved from the first cache if the at least one role was retrieved from the first hierarchy; and wherein the policy is retrieved from the second cache if the policy was previously retrieved from the second hierarchy.