Students play game of life, death, and homeland security

Spy vs. Spy by Robert Ross

Leader cover image sys vs. spy story

Last spring semester, a few dozen Embry-Riddle students saved Phoenix, Ariz., from a nasty terror plot.

No, they weren't video gamers or paintball enthusiasts.

They were juniors and seniors in the global security and intelligence studies (GSIS) program at the university's Prescott, Ariz. campus. They were playing a war game that was as unusual as it was deadly serious.

It involved an Al Qaeda plan to set off a nuclear bomb in the United States and the race against the clock by U.S. security agencies to find out where and when and to stop it. Students played both sides.

Before the game began, students were assigned to one of several teams, including Al Qaeda, Homeland Security, the CIA, U.S. State Department, U.S. military branches, border patrol, Phoenix police, and Arizona highway patrol.

Depending on their role and team, students next did technical research on everything from bombs to Blackhawk helicopters and ultralight planes.

"We introduced a scenario and created some false leads for the CIA and police to follow," says Philip Jones, associate professor and chair of the GSIS program.

After making moves during several meetings of the Studies in Global Intelligence II course, students brought the game to a climax in a marathon Saturday session. Time was compressed, with every half hour representing a day. A rolling screen showed each team's moves, and a professor refereed.

The game begins: U.S. spies learn Al Qaeda in Pakistan has obtained an aging Soviet-era suitcase-size nuclear bomb. But the plotters move too quickly for arrests to be made.

Deana Lee Ruhmer played a member of a Canadian Al Qaeda cell that tried to create diversions near the Phoenix airport -- the terrorists' target -- to throw security forces off their trail. Among the ideas they considered: setting off a dud backpack bomb in an airport food court.

"Our imaginations were our borders," Ruhmer says. "The greatest challenge was anticipating how each agency would react to our threat. For every move we made, we spent another cleaning up our tracks. We had to examine the costs and implications of every decision."

"Playing the enemy was a guilty pleasure for me," Ruhmer says. "I was surprised at how many underhanded, conniving attack plans my group and I came up with. Our professors said they were glad we're all on the same team in real life."

The bomb is taken through Spain to Venezuela and then Panama. From there, the gang smuggles it by boat up Mexico's west coast to Tijuana and through a tunnel under the U.S. border.

"The toughest part was thinking like a terrorist and trying to outwit our American counterparts," says Travis Kelley, who played an Arizona-based terrorist in a cell that smuggled the bomb into the United States. "I felt a pang of guilt when we came up with nefarious plots, but after a few tense hours we began to immerse ourselves in the simulation."

"The exercise lets you see how the young people who make up Al Qaeda could have done it," Jones says. "Young minds are fertile, and not deterred by a sense of limits."

Each sector in the game had different tactical advantages, weaknesses, and turfs, but the same mission: win. Both sides tried to thwart each other, relying on sketchy intelligence. "They find out how difficult it is to make decisions based on a lack of complete, real information in a short time," Jones says.

As the bad guys drive toward the Phoenix airport, U.S. authorities trace their cell phone calls and set up a roadblock. But the terrorists find out, get off the highway, and purchase an ultralight plane.

In the dual roles of Secretary of Energy and New and Emerging Science and Technology advisor, Steve Dial researched weapons of mass destruction and advised the border patrol on detection.

"As the CIA and FBI began receiving tips, I shared this information with them, as well, and placed the Palo Verde Nuclear Facility on high alert," Dial says. "Many of us feared this might become an alternate target, so I worked with the military to deploy anti-aircraft artillery at the site."

Natalia Sanchez was part of the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center team, which gathered data from each agency and served as liaison for each agency looking for more information on the potential attack. Her team also supplied the governor's office with information it would need in the event of a mass evacuation.

Blackhawk helicopters swoop in, forcing the ultralight to crash in the desert west of Phoenix. The suicide pilot pulls the trigger, but the weapon is so deteriorated it explodes as a dirty bomb, not a nuclear device. Game Over.

Jones has been running some version of the war game every year since he created the GSIS degree program at the Prescott campus seven years ago. "I love games, and the students get into them intensely," he says.

Ruhmer says she was humbled by the experience. "Memorizing theories on why desk jockeys in Washington D.C., Islamist terrorists in Vancouver, or TSA workers in the Southwest act the way they act can only bring you so far." She said the game showed her "there is no standard by which we can predict anyone's moves in real life."

She says it also reinforced her career objectives: "to learn to contrive, anticipate, and thwart threats to our security."

Editor's Note: Embry-Riddle also offers a bachelor's degree in Homeland Security at its campus in Daytona Beach, Fla.