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

Staff

Clementine G. Starling-Daniels

Director, Forward Defense

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.

Art of Future Warfare

Jun 26, 2015

Cole: The Art of World War III

By August Cole

Brent Scowcroft Center Nonresident Senior Fellow August Cole writes for Vice News on an Art of Future Warfare event, which brought together a group of leading artists, as well as entries from a crowd-sourced online contest, to reveal the art of World War III:

Art of Future Warfare

Jun 23, 2015

Envisioning the future of urban warfare

By Atlantic Council

Please join the Atlantic Council’s Art of Future Warfare project on June 23 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 pm for a discussion on Envisioning the Future of Urban Warfare. This will also be the capstone to a war-art challenge calling for graphic novel, or comic book, illustrations revealing what urban warfare might look like in […]

Art of Future Warfare

May 18, 2015

Wars in space will require new conflict and geopolitical frameworks, say artists

Predictions of the future are often one sided, based on past data and assumptions of future conditions. But at the intersection of creativity and interest, the Atlantic Council’s Art of Future Warfare project creates a revolutionary forum to discuss what conflict may look like years from now. In a series of contests, each directed toward […]

Art of Future Warfare

Mar 20, 2015

How the Next Great War Begins

By Brent Scowcroft Center

The Art of Future Warfare, an initiative of the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, hosted an event titled “How the Next Great War Begins” on March 17. The event served as a conclusion to the initiative’s recent essay contest that explored the same question. With a distinguished panel that included Admiral James […]

Art of Future Warfare

Oct 1, 2014

The future of unknown conflict

By Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council introduced Dave Antony as a nonresident fellow for the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security on October 1st, where he will be working on the “Art of Future War” project. The event, moderated by August Cole, the project’s director, featured everything from 3D printers to flying drones which served as the backdrop […]

Conflict Security & Defense

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Forward Defense, housed within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, generates ideas and connects stakeholders in the defense ecosystem to promote an enduring military advantage for the United States, its allies, and partners. Our work identifies the defense strategies, capabilities, and resources the United States needs to deter and, if necessary, prevail in future conflict.

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