Governments, especially defense and intelligence agencies, routinely plan for both likely and improbable events. Though intelligence gathering and analysis form the core foundation of these efforts, all organizations are looking to include a wider range of inputs and methods to more accurately forecast responses to likely scenarios. Wargaming involves assembling groups of analysts into designated teams tasked with roleplaying a particular actor, and responding to the moves of the others in a dynamic simulation of situations.

Exercises of this kind can greatly aid national organizations engaged in advanced contingency planning. The effective wargaming of credible scenarios helps organizations get ahead of the information curve, giving them a real-world advantage in crisis management situations.

THE MAIN FOCUS AREAS OF WIKISTRAT WARGAMES ARE:Strategic Planning: Improve strategic foresight and shorten response times by highlighting previously unidentified indicators of activity.

Operations: Improve decision-making in planning and operations by identifying bureaucratic weaknesses, blind spots and capability shortfalls ahead of time.

Critical Review and Analysis: Improve decision-making and problem-solving by testing assumptions, hypotheses and existing plans.

Intelligence: Improve understanding of enemies/rivals/competitors by projecting likely strategies and actions of adversaries.

WIKISTRAT’S WARGAMING METHODOLOGY Wikistrat uses a wargaming methodology in both internal and client engagements, and has conducted multiple scenario-driven roleplaying exercises designed to be utilized by national government entities. There are several key elements to each of Wikistrat’s wargames:

1. Multiple role-playing teams comprised of subject-matter experts simulate the decision-making process of the actor they are tasked with representing. The number and size of teams is dependent on client preferences and project requirements.

2. A Management Team comprised of Wikistrat staff, a Lead Analyst and supervisor(s) oversees the progress of and decision-making within the wargame, ensuring the highest quality of analysis and coordination.

3. A framework scenario is prepared by Wikistrat’s Management Team in consultations with the client, and the information stream is tailored individually to every team in the exercise. The scenario is based upon a testable assumption or identified problem requiring examination and resolution.

WIKISTRAT’SWARGAMING SERVICES

In 2002, the U.S. military conducted a massive wargame entitled “Millennium Challenge 2002”, a three-week, $235 million exercise designed around a framework scenario which envisaged confrontation between a Blue Team (U.S. forces) and Red Team (Persian Gulf nation controlled by a dictator).

4. Wild cards/shocks may be introduced as per the client’s request in any cycle of the wargame to one or more participating teams.

5. An analysis and evaluation of the results is conducted by the Management Team, and it assumes critical review and synthesis of all initiatives created in the exercise. Its results are presented in Wikistrat’s Deliverables: an Executive Summary, a Final Report and an in-person briefing to the client.

CLIENT

MANAGEMENT TEAM

FRAMEWORK SCENARIO

THE RESULTS ARE ANALYZED ANDEVALUATED BY THE MANAGEMENT TEAM

TEAM 1 TEAM 2 TEAM 3 TEAM 4 TEAM 5SHOCKS ANDWILDCARDS

SHOCKS ANDWILDCARDS

WIKISTRAT’S ONLINE PLATFORM

As the world’s first crowdsourced consultancy, Wikistrat is uniquely situated to offer wargaming products that are tailored to clients’ interests and needs. Traditional private-sector consultancies approach this task with inherent national, regional, cultural and/or bureaucratic biases. Wikistrat – with its worldwide roster of more than 2,000 analysts – is capable of excluding biases or tailoring perspectives to ensure in-depth, high-quality analysis on a variety of topics. Wikistrat’s dedicated in-house team of experts will craft a realistic scenario that is suited to testing the client’s assumptions and expectations. In addition, the wargaming teams that are assembled will be comprised of experts with significant experience regarding the actor they are tasked to represent, ensuring they can accurately determine how the entity will behave. In addition, Wikistrat’s unique online platform enables continuous client engagement at every stage of the process, enabling users to interject with questions or queries for Wikistrat staff, wargaming teams or individual team members.

MORE INFORMATION:Click here to read about Wikistrat in the media

Contact us at info@wikistrat.comwww.wikistrat.com

ABOUT US:Wikistrat is the world’s first crowdsourced consultancy. It leverages a global network of subject-matter experts via a patent-pending “Collaborative Competition” methodology to provide a variety of analytic services. Scenario generation, policy planning, risk assessment and red-teaming exercises are conducted by Wikistrat on a real-time, interactive online platform.

Wikistrat ran several wargames in 2015, among which was the “Scarborough Shoal Incident” exercise – a wargame built around a scenario in which China begins major dredging operations to build up the landmass in the Scarborough Shoals with the intention of building an airstrip. Four teams participated the game, representing the governments of the U.S., China, Japan and the Philippines.

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