April 25, 2023

Pentagon Needs to Do Better Job of Tracking Wargames, Report Finds

Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine

Journalist: Chris Gordon

Some wargame designers also said the DOD should understand the limits of what can be learned from wargames, which are ultimately human endeavors subject to practical constraints, such as participants’ time, resources, subject matter knowledge, and individual biases.

Becca Wasser, the head of the Center for a New American Security’s Gaming Lab, said that the Defense Department should be cautious in relying on wargames alone to advocate for particular operational concepts or capabilities.

“Part of this is also always pairing game results with additional research,” she said. “It is a human-centric tool of analysis,” Wasser added. “What one participant might see as the takeaways and lessons learned are different than what another participant sees.”

Read the full story and more from Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Author

  • Becca Wasser

    Senior Fellow, Defense Program

    Becca Wasser is a Senior Fellow for the Defense Program and lead of The Gaming Lab at the Center for a New American Security. Her research areas include defense strategy and o...