About our work

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.

Narrative and the arts

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

Public Event Tue, June 2, 2020 • 3:30 pm ET

War stories from the future
Coronavirus Defense Policy Defense Technologies Security & Defense
Public Event Wed, March 25, 2020 • 5:00 pm ET

Defense, survival, and fiction: Implications of COVID-19
Coronavirus Security & Defense

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

Wargaming

Analysis from our wargames

The art of war

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
The art of war

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
The art of war

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
The art of war

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
John Watts

Fellow

John T. Watts

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Conflict Crisis Management

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Art of the future

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

Jul 8, 2015

How Will World War III be Fought?

By Brent Scowcroft Center

On Tuesday, July 7, the Atlantic Council hosted a panel continuing the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security’s series, Art of Future Warfare. The panel entitled “How to Write and Fight World War III” surrounded the newly released book Ghost Fleet and its implications in predicting a future great war. The panelists include coauthors Peter […]

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

Art of Future Warfare

Jul 7, 2015

How to Write and Fight World War III

Please join the Atlantic Council’s Art of Future Warfare project on July 7 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. for a discussion on what a major state conflict would look like in the twenty-first century. How would warfare be conducted in the new domains of low-earth orbit and cyber space?  What new technologies, old rules, and […]

Art of Future Warfare

Jun 30, 2015

Cole: How to Write About World War III

By August Cole

Brent Scowcroft Center Nonresident Senior Fellow August Cole cowrites for The Atlantic about his new novel Ghost Fleet and what a great power conflict would look like in the twenty-first century:

China

Art of Future Warfare

Jun 30, 2015

Cole: This Is What World War III Will Look Like

By August Cole

Brent Scowcroft Center Nonresident Senior Fellow August Cole cowrites for TIME on how his new novel, Ghost Fleet, portrays a hypothetical World War where an array of science-fiction-like technologies would likely make their debut:

China

Art of Future Warfare

Jun 29, 2015

‘Ghost Fleet’ Featured in RealClearDefense

By August Cole

RealClearDefense features Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War coauthored by Brent Scowcroft Center Nonresident Senior Fellow August Cole:

China
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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.

Learn more