Cyber Wargaming: Research and education for security in a dangerous digital world

By Frank L. Smith, Nina A. Kollars

and Benjamin H. Schechter

There is no doubt that cyber is fast becoming the front line in sub-threshold conflict. As a Corps it will undoubtably fall to us to become the leading authority in education and application of this new capability within the Army, and to work alongside other subject matter experts across defence. This brings with it a whole host of new challenges, not in the least the difficulty of upskilling our workforce to become technical experts in the area, but also being able to explain to commanders what ‘cyber tools’ they have at their disposal alongside their conventional political and warfighting methods.

This is where Cyber Wargaming comes in

.

The book guides the reader through many of the issues commonly associated with military wargaming in general, framing most of its examples within academically run American wargames of the past, before allowing its host of academics to explain the difficulty of integrating Cyber capabilities into the otherwise familiar wargaming concept. Across their many independent chapters the authors make many similar conclusions, that Cyber cannot be seen as its own independent operating area and must instead be integrated into government strategy and combined arms warfare across the board in order to synchronise effects across the political, military and digital spectrum. This, the authors argue, must be achieved through wargaming for two purposes – research and education. The book divides itself neatly into these two categories, with its first half focusing on research and second on education. Its collated chapters are well written, engaging and produced by a variety of academics within the area of cyber wargaming. Many of these authors have been directly involved with the United States Department of Defence wargaming programs and have been responsible for helping to guide US policy in the area through their games Netwar, Island Intercept and The International Crisis Wargame.

Much like the famous garden paint, Cyber Wargaming does largely what is says on the tin. Those hoping for a critical insight into the technical aspects of Cyber will likely find themselves disappointed, however the book never promises this in the first place. Its best application would be for those in defence that find themselves involved in Cyber and would like to see effective models for involving Cyber in the cross-domain decision making process. The hope being to see Cyber as an operational tool as much as fires or ISTAR, to allow the United Kingdom to remain competitive in ‘a dangerous digital world’.

Lieutenant Theo Stewart

Published Georgetown University Press, 248 pages

ISBN 978-1647123949