Cowboy Strategy

Yesterday we ran some security/counterterrorism simulations, and the students did some great work in their strategy discussions.

Students in their planning session

We had two simulations for them to explore:

Special shout-out to Dr. Victor Asal - his 2016 ISA simulation
workshop was the inspiration for this session. 

All of them did some pretty detailed planning...

Students sketched out their infiltration plans for the Iraq scenario,
Notice the group in the top left developed their own mission name:
Operation C.O.W.B.O.Y.

Each group came up with a different tactic, and we found that each group had prioritized different goals (capture the terrorists, protect your troops, or protect civilians) when trying to settle on their strategy.  

These simulations are designed to be no-win - it is not possible to develop a strategy that will achieve all of your goals given the constraints you are operating under.  In a lot of ways, this is very realistic to the choices counter-terrorism agents and emergency responders may have to face in these situations.  Hopefully, this will help students appreciate how difficult it can be fighting terrorism!