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Policy Gaming

q&a

A New Approach for the U.S. Armed Forces: Q&A with David Ochmanek
The United States and its allies have a window of opportunity to bolster their security and prepare for the global challenges to come. But it's closing fast as China and other adversaries build up their own militaries. Business as usual is no longer sufficient.
Mar 13, 2024

commentary

Using Alternative History to Think Through Current and Future Problems
We can use history to help us understand what happened (and why) as a starting point for considering what might have occurred if things had turned out differently. This approach allows us to contemplate things not merely as they are, but how they might have been different with a tweak here and there.
Mar 1, 2024
commentary

These Technologies Could Defeat China's Missile Barrage and Defend Taiwan: Analysis
Earlier this year, a group of experts from RAND and the Special Competitive Studies Project launched a new wargame effort around China's invasion of Taiwan. But unlike most D.C.-based wargames, this effort heavily involved members of the commercial technology sector, to understand what near-term capabilities might be brought to bear on a Taiwan scenario.
Aug 24, 2023
commentary

Climate Security Is National Security
Mitigating the effects of climate change will require a whole-of-government approach and a redefinition of national security to embrace a more panoramic set of risks. Government officials are saying lots of the right things. But is it being done, and done quickly enough?
Jun 30, 2023
essay

Hackathon Focuses on Making Policing More Equitable
Hackathons bring new ideas and perspectives to hard policy problems and introduce college students to the field of policy analysis. The latest hackathon, hosted by Pardee RAND and RAND NextGen, explored ways to make the criminal justice system more equitable and more effective.
Jan 9, 2023
commentary

Developing a Winning Safety Strategy for Automated Vehicles
When policy problems involve many different groups with diverging interests along with significant uncertainty about the future, games can be a valuable way to explore the potential consequences of important policy decisions. What could gaming bring to the area of AV safety?
Feb 18, 2022
commentary

Analytical Gaming Could Help the U.S. Coast Guard Address Key Challenges
By gradually expanding its gaming efforts, the U.S. Coast Guard might improve both the quality of its decisions and the strength of its relationships, making the service ever more capable as it navigates the challenges of the 21st century.
Nov 8, 2021
commentary

Use Wargaming to Sharpen the Tactical Edge
As a growing consensus embraces the utility of educational wargaming, a more daunting question remains: Can the Joint Force integrate and sustain educational wargaming in the operating forces? The challenges are substantial, but they are not insurmountable. The answer depends on bold leadership, sufficient tools, and eager partners.
Mar 8, 2021
commentary

Wargames as an Educational Tool
The benefits of games for military education are well documented. But harnessing the potential of games to foster innovation may require a commitment to sustain gaming over the years needed to explore a problem space and develop and stress-test new ideas.
Feb 8, 2021
blog

The Most Popular RAND Research of 2020
Here are the RAND research projects that resonated most in 2020, a year unlike any in living memory. Topics include remote learning, election disinformation, income inequality, and more.
Dec 21, 2020
commentary

Establishing a Wargaming Insurgency at the University
When properly employed, wargaming can serve as a potent experiential learning tool. If educational wargaming is to evolve and endure, a global wargaming insurgency may be required. This will likely demand additional time, effort, and energy, but if successful, the dividends could be remarkable.
Dec 16, 2020
blog

Now You Can Play RAND Games at Home
RAND is famous for its Pentagon wargames. Now the public can play defense analyst, too. In RAND's new game, Hedgemony, players create a military strategy to allocate troops and resources and hedge against the unknown.
Nov 10, 2020
commentary

Two Vignettes: How Might Combat Operations Be Different Under the Information Joint Function?
RAND researcher Christopher Paul employs storytelling to illustrate two distinct approaches to Joint Combat Operations. While both vignettes result in the expulsion of adversary forces and the restoration of territorial integrity, they take different approaches to kinetic and informational power.
Oct 8, 2020
commentary

Why Militaries Should Play Games with Each Other
With rising rates of COVID-19 and vulnerable populations at risk, Hawaii's people are understandably nervous about the upcoming Rim of the Pacific exercise scheduled for August. But COVID-19 cannot be a blanket check on international engagement by the U.S. military. With the effects of COVID-19 expected to last for decades, the forward thinking found in games may be exactly what is needed.
Aug 14, 2020
commentary

Wargaming the Department of Defense for Strategic Advantage
Defense acquisition, personnel, and management systems have long been seen as areas in need of reform, as costs and man-hours continue to increase over the years. Gaming new policies that govern these areas can offer early insights into potential stumbling blocks and provide leaders valuable feedback on decisions before major costs are incurred.
Aug 3, 2020
commentary

What Strategic Decisions on the Horizon for the Department of Defense Can Best Be Shaped Through Wargaming?
The U.S. Marine Corps is not alone in its avid use of wargaming to shape its decisions of the future. The other services are conducting similar efforts with equal rigor and zeal. And as the national deficit grows and budgetary constraints mount, the Department of Defense will most likely increasingly leverage all its analytical tools, including wargaming.
Aug 3, 2020
commentary

How Can Wargaming Improve Government Response to Catastrophic Events?
Wargames are abstracted models of national security challenges, where players' decisions and their consequences are adjudicated within a rules-based environment. Due to its inherent flexibility as a tool, wargaming can be applied to a wide range of issues. Yet, it is important to understand what wargaming can and cannot do.
May 29, 2020
q&a

The Serious Side of Gaming: Q&A with Yuna Wong
Yuna Wong, codirector of RAND's Center for Gaming, didn't expect to make gaming a focus of her career. In this interview, she discusses what drew her to the field, what makes a good wargame, and her latest research on the dangers of putting too much trust in artificial intelligence.
May 8, 2020
blog

I'll Take RAND Researchers on Game Shows for $400, Alex
Did you know that RAND researchers have appeared on game shows? Pam Mueller and two teammates took third in the Jeopardy! All-Star Games. Richard Mason has won about $85,000 on many different shows. He and Walter Nelson both won Ben Stein's money.
Mar 16, 2020
commentary

Book Review: 'A Game of Birds and Wolves' by Simon Parkin
In A Game of Birds and Wolves, journalist Simon Parkin reports on a long overlooked piece of World War II's Battle of the Atlantic. Captain Gilbert Roberts enlisted the Women's Royal Naval Service to build and run a game modeling a two-sided tactical fight between British escorts and German U-boats.
Jan 30, 2020
commentary

What Chess Can Teach Us About the Future of AI and War
Will artificial intelligence (AI) change warfare? It's hard to say. AI itself is not new, but AI as a critical factor in competitions is relatively novel and, as a result, there's not much data to draw from. Perhaps the most interesting examples are in the world of chess.
Jan 3, 2020
essay

A Wargame at RAND Puts Teen Girls in Command
RAND analysts developed and hosted a wargame to help young women learn firsthand about national security. It's a lesson in strategy, in the hard realities behind news headlines, but also in agility and resilience. In that, it's not so far removed from the daily life of a teenage girl.
Aug 20, 2019
blog

And, By the Way, They Were All Women: RAND Hosts Forum on 21st-Century Warfare Honoring Roberta Wohlstetter
National security experts, flag officers, and decisionmakers attended the Roberta Wohlstetter Forum on National Security at RAND's Washington office on October 24. The featured speakers, moderators, organizers, donor, and namesake for the event were all women.
Nov 26, 2018
commentary

Building a Pipeline of Wargaming Talent: A Two-Track Solution
How does the Department of Defense imagine the future of war and make long-term investments to confront the challenges ahead? On issues ranging from potential conflicts with Russia to the future of transportation and logistics, senior leaders have increasingly turned to wargames to imagine potential futures.
Nov 15, 2018
blog

Education Policy 'Game Night' Debuts at RAND
Parents, teachers, principals, and community leaders played RAND's first education policy game. Participants had to work through scenarios affecting a fictional high school, such as how to cut its budget by 4 percent. The game showed researchers how different stakeholders might approach school improvement challenges and what drives their decisions.
Oct 11, 2018
commentary

Just Let Them Compete: Raising the Next Generation of Wargamers
Wargames are games that simulate aspects of warfare at varying levels, aimed at analyzing human decisionmaking. To develop the next generation of avid wargamers, the first step is both radical and simple: Let them compete.
Oct 9, 2018
commentary

Adding Shots on Target: Wargaming Beyond the Game
Figuring out what the future may look like—and what concepts and technology we should invest in now to prepare—is hard. How can the wargaming community build a cycle of research to help understand what these paths might be?
Oct 9, 2017
commentary

Let's (Not) Play Games with Dodd-Frank
Dodd-Frank, the 2010 financial reform law, is now itself the target of reform. Those involved with the overhaul could draw inspiration from an unlikely source: video games. A simulation game could help predict the effects of changes to regulations—and avoid high-stakes missteps.
May 4, 2017
q&a

Gaming and Public Policy: Q&A with David Shlapak
David Shlapak discusses how using games in research can help improve decisionmaking across a wide range of areas, including national security, health care, and climate change.
Aug 11, 2016
commentary

In Defense of a Wargame: Bolstering Deterrence on NATO's Eastern Flank
A series of wargames examined the potential results of a Russian invasion of the Baltic states. While such an invasion appears unlikely, its consequences would be so dangerous that not taking steps to deter it more robustly would be imprudent.
Jun 14, 2016
commentary

How Can Gaming Help Test Your Theory?
The act of designing a game will force you to articulate your theory or to be more specific about it. It will also require you to operationalize your variables and theoretical constructs of interest into a specific context, and prompt you to anticipate the ways in which it may play out in that scenario.
May 18, 2016
commentary

Outnumbered, Outranged, and Outgunned: How Russia Defeats NATO
Today NATO is outnumbered, outranged, and outgunned by Russia in Europe and beset by a number of compounding factors that make the situation worse. But it is possible to begin restoring a more robust deterrent posture and to do so at a price tag that appears affordable.
Apr 21, 2016
commentary

Gaming the System: Obstacles to Reinvigorating Defense Wargaming
Reinvigorating wargaming in the defense community offers great potential value given the complex strategic situation that the U.S. faces today. DoD should educate sponsors and consumers about the appropriate use of wargames, set realistic expectations, and build the right amount of risk acceptance into its gaming enterprise.
Feb 18, 2016
commentary

Getting the Most Out of Your Wargame: Practical Advice for Decisionmakers
While some famous historical cases offer a compelling narrative of what wargames can be at their best and worst, they cannot illustrate the full range of contemporary wargaming that leaders should strive to achieve. A better understanding of how wargames can be helpful — or how they can backfire — is critical.
Jan 26, 2016
commentary

A Funny Thing Happened When These Military Officers and Academics Got Together
If senior military officers and academics find themselves divided, is there a way to build respect and trust earlier in their careers? A tabletop exercise suggested that the best way to bridge the civilian-military divide is not via large conferences or formal papers. Instead, it can be done by building trust, one person at a time, over time.
Apr 6, 2015
commentary

Anatomy of a War Game
War games are especially important as countries prepare to counter adversaries who use asymmetric strategies or weapons, forcing military planners to deal with unfamiliar threats, writes Bruce Bennett.
Jun 12, 2012

Quoted

The [Israel-Hamas] war has exacerbated a divide in American politics. Historically, Israel enjoyed wide bipartisan support. That's no longer the case with more progressives and younger voters questioning this core tenet of U.S. foreign policy. The Gaza war has certainly exacerbated this shift and it's going to continue to influence the politics of American support for years to come

Raphael S. Cohen

Director, Strategy and Doctrine Program, RAND Project AIR FORCE, and Director of the Pardee RAND Graduate School National Security Program
Source: rand.org
While there have sometimes been intense policy debates, American support for Israel was historically bipartisan. Judging by the reaction to the Gaza war at many of the leading college campuses—the crucible of future leaders—Western attitudes will only further harden against Israel. Israel has an American problem that it will struggle to effectively address.

Brian Michael Jenkins

Senior Adviser to the RAND President
Source: rand.org