Wargaming the Home Front: Stress-Testing U.S. Homeland Defense

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Future great-power conflict will not stop at the water's edge. Adversaries such as China and Russia are likely to employ cyberattacks, sabotage, and other disruptive actions against U.S. critical infrastructure to slow military mobilization, degrade public services, and erode the political will to intervene abroad.

This RAND project uses a recurring series of wargames—including INVERTED ROOK (2023), which convened federal leaders to test national coordination during prolonged homeland crises, and WEST ROOK (2025), which examined how California state and local officials worked alongside federal partners under stress— to identify coordination gaps between emergency management and national defense response mechanisms. The exercises surfaced critical questions for policymakers about prioritization, legal authorities, capabilities, resourcing, and strategic communication during a simultaneous, multisector domestic emergency unfolding while U.S. forces project power overseas.

Findings from the games are documented in both public and classified volumes, giving decisionmakers across all levels of government an evidence base for adapting plans, authorities, and investments before a crisis arrives.

From the Exercise

The excerpt from the 2025 WEST ROOK exercise below depicts the disruption injects affecting California in Turn 1.

Scenario: Coordinated nationwide disruption of infrastructure through cyberattacks and physical sabotage, affecting such critical sectors as electricity, transportation, and water systems.

Objectives: Identify gaps and coordination seams between emergency management and national defense response mechanisms.

An example page from the 2025 West Rook exercise outlines possible scenarios requiring a combined response from civil and defense agencies.

Graphic by Yvonne Crane/RAND

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Principal Investigators