U.S. Naval War College Focuses on Western Hemisphere for Interagency Wargame

The U.S. Naval War College National Security Affairs (NSA) Department’s foreign policy analysis courses held their biennial interagency wargame focusing on the Western Hemisphere on Dec. 9, 2025.

The scenario involves a fictional Eastern Pacific island and the establishment of a military installation there by a potentially hostile extraregional country. Students are assigned to play the roles of different agencies within the U.S. government and tasked with evaluating several policy proposals, considering all instruments of national power. This aligns with a Joint Staff instruction calling on Professional Military Education institutions to develop those “who can discern the military dimensions of national challenges.”

Associate Prof. Andrew Stigler, Ph.D., developed the exercise more than three years ago, with the first such wargame running in November of 2022. The class – today taught in multiple sections by Stigler and more than a dozen fellow faculty members across the NSA Department – also holds the wargame each year in March.

“The purpose is to give the students an idea of what it is like to participate in an interagency working group, and to try to develop a policy recommendation for senior leaders in a crisis environment,” said Stigler.  

The scenario replicates interagency discourse that senior military officers could encounter in support of the National Security Council, on policy coordination subcommittees and on staffs in the capital.

“The game's outcome is not ‘victory’ or ‘defeat,’ but a policy recommendation – in keeping with the actual day-to-day work of the policy coordinating committees in the interagency environment. We are preparing students for jobs that could well be part of their next tours of duty,” said Stigler.

“Tabletop games like this teach what books and articles cannot: how to discern meaning in complex environments with no right answers and no single solutions,” said NSA Chair Prof. Derek Reveron, Ph.D.

Established in 1884, NWC informs today’s decision-makers and educates tomorrow’s leaders by providing educational experiences and learning opportunities that develop their ability to anticipate and prepare strategically for the future, strengthen the foundations of peace, and create a decisive warfighting advantage.