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November 04, 2005

Let's Just Nuke 'Em! - Fletcher Students Take on the Roles of Policy Makers in Simulex 2005

It’s not everyday you get the option to nuke a country, and yes, I mean use a nuclear weapon against them. That’s true, and we didn’t exactly get to use one either, but sort of! It was Friday evening, Simulex had just started, and my team was the rogue state of North Korea.

Simulex is a crisis management simulation exercise organized annually by the Fletcher School’s International Security Studies Program (ISSP). Teams of ten to twelve Fletcher students work with fellows from the different military services, war colleges and local universities and high-level officers from the national security, defense, military and homeland security departments and assume the role of national policy makers in a real-world current conflict, whether they be state actors, non-state actors or organizations. Their crisis management and negotiation skills are tested as they are compelled to make decisions to address the conflict.

For this year’s exercise, which was held on October 28 to 29, Professor Pfaltzgraff and his team created a scenario focusing on Asia, with the different groups representing South Korea, North Korea, US, Taiwan, Japan and China. Participants could not communicate directly with the other teams, as all correspondences had to pass through Control, comprising of individuals from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, Air Force wargaming communities, the Wargaming and Simulation Center at the National Defense University, Wargaming and Combat Simulation Center of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and Air Force Wargaming Center.

After transmission by Control of the communication to the designated team, the latter was expected to respond, and there was no telling what that response would be. Not only were each of the the teams unable to see the correspondences between the other teams, but Control would sometimes throw out fictitious correspondences or press releases to add fuel to the fire. This demonstrated the difficulty in information transmission in real life diplomatic exchanges.

“Wait a second. Apparently we just bombed a Japanese city… did we do that? Who did that?” was one of the reactions in the North Korean room, after receiving a press release, presumably from Control, that we had just killed a bunch of Japanese citizens for fun. “We didn’t even get to use the actual nuke!”

The experience of Simulex had a lot to do with group dynamics. There were some groups that were more coherent and organized than others, making the experience more enjoyable for the participants. Frustration came when groups could not come together and work as a team. Likened to the real-world, this can be seen as a hurdle to international relations and policy-making in these respects.

Ed Conant, an Air Force fellow who led the committee which organized Simulex 2005, had the benefit of being able to walk around to each room and observe the groups in action. “It was a neat experience to see how each group worked and how it was different from the next.” The event went off without a hitch due to Conant’s work.

Another highlight of the event was the keynote speech on Saturday. ADM William Pendley, former Defense Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affairs and Acting Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs. Speaking on the topic “Security in East Asia”, addressed the participants with a very clear and encompassing discussion on the Asian situation, breaking each separate conflict down and offering his insight into the future.

Admiral Pendley said that it is no longer a “one thing at a time” situation in East Asia, as many crises are happening at the same time. He emphasized that economic growth is critical to peace, stability and political evolution, and that while the U.S. needs to sustain its alliances in the region, it must manage old issues with a new way of thinking.

“The U.S. needs to back down on its posture of wanting to be a regional superpower since it is not in Asia. This will also enable the U.S. to manage its domestic issues,” Admiral Pendley said.

All in all, the event was a fantastic learning experience for the participants. Sharon Rivera, a first-year MALD student who was part of the China team, said she would be interested to join Simulex again next year.

“It was a very worthwhile experience. I think the students were able to apply and integrate what they learn in their classes in security, negotiation, international relations and even law to the exercise, while having fun with their teammates at the same time,” she said.

Article by Katharine Brodock, MALD '07

Posted by jessica at November 4, 2005 09:47 AM