New War Threat Scenario Exercise

On October 28, 2004, the Coast Guard Office of Strategic Analysis, in cooperation with Cadet Professional Development, Dean of Academics, Commandant of Cadets, and the Leadership Development Center, conducted the Fourth Annual New War Threat and Response Exercise. Designed as a First Class Cadet and Officer Candidate capstone event, the threat awareness and response exercise, "New War 2004" exposed Cadets, Officer Candidates and Connecticut College students to the “fog of war” generated by a potential asymmetrical attack through a real-time threat and response scenario simulation.

In order to create the most realistic and useful training environment, a variety of platforms are used in the Exercise, including GIS (Geographic Information Systems), a variety of interactive training simulators, telecommunication devices, and even the Atlantic Strike Team, who pitched in to help with portions of the Exercise.

The exercise and pre-exercise training was developed to encourage the participants to think and make decisions about homeland security roles that the Coast Guard has taken on, and to expose all participants to the high degree of coordination between governmental, private sector and military leaders that is required if the homeland is to be made more secure. Further, the exercise placed cadets and officer candidates in a dynamic operational scenario designed to exercise their ability to:

• Determine information needed for command and control decision making;
• Acquire and integrate this information in a short time window;
• Critically analyze this information and make effective decisions under stress;
• Communicate critical information in a timely and effective manner and IAW ICS standards and;
• Function as a member of a team within a unified command and control structure.
• Demonstrate proficiency in Academy shared-learning outcomes.