The Foreign Service Journal, November 2022

22 NOVEMBER 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Many DoD games proceed without any State Department input, which hurts both State and DoD. State Department staff detailed to the wargaming offices of the war colleges, Pentagon, and other organizations. Serving Multiple Functions The Office of Diplomatic Gaming will serve multiple functions. Like the former FSI office, it will design and run games on issues for the highest levels of the depart- ment. These policy games will examine the thorniest issues confronting the United States and its partners, and allow senior leaders to experiment with differ- ent approaches to addressing them. Like generals preparing for war, senior diplomats can take advantage of policy games to examine alternative decisions and the consequences of those decisions. Serious games are not just tools for senior leaders, however. They have a role to play at every level of the organization. When- ever a new technology is implemented or a plan developed, serious games can be used to test the rollout or find gaps within the plan. Matrix games are argument-based seminar games that are ideally suited to these kinds of issues. They work with small groups (ideally 6-8 people), can cover a wide range of subjects, and can be developed very quickly. Establish- ing the use of Matrix games is one of the quickest ways to spread the adoption of serious games throughout the depart- ment. The Office of Diplomatic Gaming will also be a one-stop-shop for other organizations seeking State Department participation in their games. DoD often seeks State Department participation in their wargames, but because there is cur- rently no centralized office to field such a request DoD has to rely on personal acquaintances at State. As a result, many DoD games proceed without any State Department input, which hurts both State and DoD. Greater State Department participation in wargames (which include pol-mil, gray zone, malign influence, and competi- tion games) will enhance the quality of those games and also spread knowledge of the value of the games within the State Department. To date, the State Department has relied on expertise from outside organiza- tions, and the new Office of Diplomatic Gaming should continue to deepen those relationships. The National Defense University’s wargaming office (CASL) has provided training and consulting advice to department staff, and the office has created a newWargaming Fellow Program that trains Foreign Service officers in the design and facilitation of serious games. State Department staff have also participated in the Naval War College’s Wargame Design course. Likewise, staff have participated in the Air Force’s Advanced Wargaming course. The Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth is the only school offering a master’s degree in wargame design. Foreign Service officers have gone through this program in the past, and we need more Foreign Service and Civil Service graduates of the program in the State Department. There are numerous other possibili- ties for training staff in the use of serious games. These opportunities need to be shared more widely throughout the department. Achieving Diplomatic Goals Games can be used to achieve diplo- matic goals. This application is underde- veloped, but it has great potential. How does it work? One might, for example, teach serious game design (Matrix game design would be ideal) to diplomats from a collection of small countries that suffer aggression from a larger neighboring country. The diplomats would learn to design and facilitate decision games that experiment with different approaches to addressing the aggression and developing counter- measures that build resilience to that aggression in their countries. This network of smaller countries could share ideas on game design among themselves, which might lead to coop- eration in other areas. In this way, game design helps build resistance to authori- tarian aggression. Another example could be working with close partners to design a board game dealing with malign influence in a fictional country. Though the country in the game is fictional, the techniques used by malign actors are real. The game could educate a general population (or be used in specialized workshops) about manipu- lation techniques. Research has shown that this type of “inoculation” can build greater resilience in communities. Serious games have an additional beneficial quality: They bring together experts from different backgrounds and promote collaboration across bureau- cratic boundaries. The need for this is highlighted in the whole-of-government efforts to address, for instance, climate change or pandemics, where gaming is