Competitive Security Gaming: Rethinking Wargaming to Provide Competitive Intelligence that Informs Strategic Competition and National Security

This article illustrates how wargaming may be used to inform a higher-level strategy, rather than conflict.

Summary

Generating competitive intelligence to make intelligent decisions in a world increasingly facing complex security challenges is more difficult than ever before. Competitive Security Gaming reframes wargaming in terms of strategic, operational and tactical competition rather than conflict. Like business wargames, it produces quality insight into the reactions and strategies of competing actors. But unlike business games, it focuses on higher-level strategy, such as national security objectives, and is not driven by market value and financial gain. When it comes to operationalizing strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, traditional military wargames may fall short and other models, such as Competitive Security Gaming, that is less about conflict and more about relationships and soft power, must be considered.