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Our exercises included a scenario that tried to predict what might happen on Inauguration Day next year. When the Red commander in chief invoked the Insurrection Act, which enables a president to deploy military forces domestically to suppress rebellion, among other things, Blue players filed a long-shot challenge in court. The judge, who was designated as nonaligned, dismissed their complaint. Courts have interpreted the language of the act to give the president exclusive authority to determine when to use the power it grants, which is what makes it so dangerous.
The Blue House of Representatives moved to cut off federal funds for any domestic troop deployments. The Red attorney general, played by Peter Keisler, who held that position on an acting basis under President George W. Bush, found a way to use existing budget authority.
The Blue governor, played by New Jersey’s former Republican governor Christine Todd Whitman, tried to prevent the federal call-up of her state Guard. First, she deployed it under her own authority. Then she urged the state adjutant general, played by retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William Enyart, to disobey the president’s order. (If he did so in real life, he would be relieved of command and court-martialed.)
Unexpectedly, the Red governor, played by a retired GOP state legislator, also objected. He wanted to keep his Guard soldiers at home in case of state emergency. And activating the troops would pull them from essential jobs such as police officers, firefighters and paramedics.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, played by retired Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, began asking questions.
What happened next was not the “deep state” conspiracy of right-wing imaginings.
Nobody in our exercise took any step to undermine civilian control of the military or disregard an order from the commander in chief.
And yet, the chairman paused. All officers swear an oath to the Constitution, not to the president personally. The Uniform Code of Military Justice requires them, under penalty of prosecution, to disobey an unlawful order. And senior military leaders promise under oath, at Senate confirmation hearings, to give their unvarnished advice.
In that spirit, the chairman asked the president to define the mission more clearly. Under exceptional authorities, the military could “assist” state and local law enforcement, he said, but Blue governors and mayors were denying any need for federal assistance.
What rules of engagement did the president have in mind for use of force on Americans exercising First Amendment rights? The judge advocate general, the chairman said, would have to review the rules for compliance with military law.
Fed up, the president, played by a former GOP party leader, fired the chairman. Then another senior general, played by a retired four-star, pointed out that mobilizing every state’s National Guard would consume about half of all forces designated for foreign contingencies. Adversaries might seize the opportunity to do something dangerous.
The president waved that point away, demanding that the general “restore law and order” in the cities and “defend the country against antifa.” The general tried to help him translate that language into an executable military order. The president cut in: “You’re fired, too.”
There were many more moves and countermoves around the room. Efforts to restrain the president’s worst impulses finally dissuaded him from a full, national call-up of the Guard. The defense secretary drafted orders that were not illegal on their face. The generals saluted.
Nothing came close to stopping the president from crushing demonstrations by force, but military leaders warded off talk of potentially lethal measures. (During protests outside the White House in 2020, according to former defense secretary Mark T. Esper, Trump asked, “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?”) When the soldiers arrived in our exercise, grass-roots organizers kept the protests peaceful. Faith leaders in clerical garb positioned themselves as shields. Pure good fortune warded off serious violence when the two sides met. Our game controller rolled a pair of 20-sided dice to represent unknown odds. Bloodshed, according to the dice, was largely averted. As any gambler knows, the next roll could have brought another outcome entirely.
In two of our five games, Red overwhelmed Blue with an “everything, everywhere” battle plan on many fronts at once.
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