Americans for Responsible Innovation today announced a new proposal to establish a senior “Wargaming Czar” within the Department of War to overhaul how the agency conducts and applies wargaming, a critical but underutilized tool for military planning and decision-making.
With the Pentagon already engaged this year in AI-enabled military operations in Iran and Latin America, the role of AI in military systems is poised to grow rapidly.
“The Pentagon’s wargaming enterprise is trapped in silos and institutional inertia. As AI reshapes the battlefield, we need to reshape the war games that our military uses to prepare for different scenarios. A Wargaming Czar and Crisis Simulation Center would be a continuous engine of military innovation and learning for our Armed Forces,” said Americans for Responsible Innovation Vice President Morgan Plummer.
Read: Wargaming Needs AI. The Department of War Isn’t Ready.
The analysis highlights that AI could significantly improve how wargames are designed and run. In the near term, tools like large language models can help generate more realistic and varied scenarios, simulate adversary decision-making, and provide real-time support during exercises. Over time, more advanced systems could help evaluate different courses of action and capture patterns across simulations.
This analysis is the second in a series examining how to modernize the Department of War’s approach to wargaming. In the first part, ARI argues that to preserve and strengthen wargaming’s value, Congress should establish and fund a stand-alone, joint Crisis Simulation Center of Excellence within the Office of the Secretary of War. By centralizing oversight and breaking down bureaucratic silos, the Center would help ensure wargaming becomes a more consistent and effective tool for shaping military strategy.
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Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to policy advocacy in the public interest, focused on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Learn more at ARI.us.