The art of war

Forward Defense leverages innovative methodological tools to get at the heart of today’s most complex security challenges. Under the banner of The Art of War, FD uses wargaming, narrative fiction, and the creative arts to better understand, communicate, and animate issues at the center of alternative military futures. Through the futures we forecast, the scenarios we wargame, and the narratives we explore, Forward Defense always maintains a methodologically Forward approach.

War Words: The Atlantic Council’s work of documentary theatre

The Atlantic Council celebration of Veterans Day 2021: War Words across America

To celebrate Veterans Day 2021, the Atlantic Council is producing staged readings of the Pulitzer-nominated play War Words, by Michelle Kholos Brooks, at professional theatres in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Syracuse, and Fort Worth. Walk with us…

War Words is a work of documentary theatre that chronicles the funny, strange, heroic, and heartbreaking stories of men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. This Pulitzer-nominated stage play was written by award-winning playwright and Forward Defense Nonresident Senior Fellow Michelle Kholos Brooks based on her interviews with veterans of those wars and their families, and was produced by Senior Fellow Steven Grundman.

• In 2021, the Atlantic Council produced staged-reading performances of the play during the week of Veterans Day by professional theatre companies in six cities across the country: Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and Syracuse.
• In 2020, the Atlantic Council commissioned Arena Stage to adapt War Words into a short film, VETERANS DAY 2020.
• In 2019, the Atlantic Council facilitated a workshop production of War Words over eight evenings in Los Angeles.

Other events

Our creators

Fellow

Elliot Ackerman

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Afghanistan Defense Policy

Fellow

Max Brooks

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Crisis Management National Security

Fellow

Michelle Kholos Brooks

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Security & Defense

Fellow

August Cole

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Analysis from our wargames

Strategic Insights Memo Nov 30, 2021

After Kabul: US and allied policy options in Afghanistan

By Atlantic Council and DT Institute

On September 1, 2021, the Atlantic Council and DT Institute ran an expert-driven matrix wargame to: (1) explore major policy dilemmas on the horizon after the US-led coalition withdrawal; and (2) forecast state behavior and assess emerging risks in the wake of the crisis. This Strategic Insights Memo captures the key takeaways from that wargame and the implications for great-power competition, regional security, and humanitarian issues in South Asia and the Middle East.

Afghanistan Conflict

Report Sep 28, 2020

Competitive strategy insights from wargames

By Benjamin Jensen, John T. Watts, Christian Trotti, and Mark J. Massa

Warfighting eclipses the moment of battle. This report assesses the results from a series of competitive strategy wargames in order to explore how US military-modernization investments can shape adversary decisions long before the battle ever begins.

China Conflict

Report Sep 6, 2019

Alternate cybersecurity futures

By John Watts, Ben Jensen, JD Work, Nina Kollars, and Chris Whyte

If the national security community continues to focus on immediate threats and managing current emergencies, it will never escape a cycle of crises, nor manage to impose a strategy to shape tomorrow’s environment.

Cybersecurity

Issue Brief Jul 30, 2019

Avenues for conflict in the Gulf: A matrix game simulation

By John Watts

Iran faces increasing pressure domestically and internationally, while simultaneously perceiving a historic opportunity to reshape regional dynamics through multiple regional conflicts. This convergence creates conditions that could lead to a strategic shock, and which warrant serious consideration.

Conflict Crisis Management

Our wargamers

Fellow

Tate Nurkin

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Indo-Pacific Security Initiative

China Defense Industry

Fellow

Clementine G. Starling-Daniels

Nonresident senior fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Security & Defense NATO

Fellow

John T. Watts

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Conflict Crisis Management

War Stories from the Future

Edited by author and Nonresident Senior Fellow August Cole, “War Stories from the Future” is a written anthology of science fiction stories which explores the future of armed and social conflict.

The Art of the Future Project

Explore our Art of the Future Project, an effort to cultivate a community of interest in works and ideas arising from the intersection of creativity and expectations about how emerging heroes and antagonists, disruptive technologies, and novel cultural and economic concepts may animate tomorrow’s world.

Online Event Wed, September 15, 2021 • 2:00 pm ET

Source Code: A short film depicting artificial intelligence in a future war

Conflict Crisis Management Defense Technologies Technology & Innovation

Art of Future Warfare

Mar 25, 2019

Omega

By Amir Husain and August Cole

Editor’s note: This short story describes a hypothetical future war in Europe between Russian and NATO forces using advanced technology. 22 KILOMETERS NORTH OF KYIV / UKRAINE “Incoming!” shouted Piotr Nowak, a master sergeant in Poland’s Jednostka Wojskowa Komandosów special operations unit. Dropping to the ground, he clawed aside a veil of brittle green moss […]

Conflict Defense Technologies

Art of Future Warfare

Dec 1, 2018

Diverse perspectives are Key to innovative thinking

By John Watts

The outcomes of this design workshop were used to help military designers think about the different ways technology will change our society, and how that will impact the way that capabilities will be employed and how we humans will expect to interact with both them and with each other.

Security & Defense Technology & Innovation

Art of Future Warfare

Dec 25, 2016

Cole Quoted by Politico on Role of Technology in US Warfare

By August Cole

Read full article here.

Intelligence National Security

Art of Future Warfare

Aug 8, 2016

Cole Joins Marketplace to Discuss Russia’s DNC Hacking

By August Cole

Listen to the full interview here.

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Forward Defense leads the Atlantic Council’s US and global defense programming, developing actionable recommendations for the United States and its allies and partners to compete, innovate, and navigate the rapidly evolving character of warfare. Through its work on US defense policy and force design, the military applications of advanced technology, space security, strategic deterrence, and defense industrial revitalization, it informs the strategies, policies, and capabilities that the United States will need to deter, and, if necessary, prevail in major-power conflict.

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