Dig Continued
WARGAME
LOGLINE
A real-life political thriller set on January 6, 2025, War Game imagines a nation-wide
insurrection in which members of the US military defect to support the losing Presidential
candidate, while the winning candidate and his advisors—played by an all-star roster of senior
officials from the last five administrations—war game the crisis in the White House situation
room. They have 6 hours to save democracy as the country teeters on thebrink of civil war.
SYNOPSIS
War Game sweeps audiences into an elaborate future-set simulation that dramatically escalates
the threat posed by the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The film follows a bipartisan group of US
defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations as
they participate in an unscripted role-play exercise. Portraying a fictional President of the United
States and his advisors, they confront a political coup backed by rogue members of the US
military in the wake of a contested 2024 presidential election. Like actors in a thriller, but with
profound real-world stakes, the players have only six hours to save American democracy
DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT
BACKGROUND
In September 2022, we learned that a non-profit, non-partisan military veterans organization
called Vet Voice was planning to stage a “war game”modeling the next insurrection,after the
2024 election, in which, after a close election, members of the US military throw their support
behind the losing Presidential candidate. The scenario is set in the future, on January 6, 2025,
when Congress convenes to certify the election results. As violence spreads, and the country
and its military fractures,the incumbent Presidentseeks to manage the escalating crisis and
defuse a coup, without provoking a second civil war.
This struck us as both a terrifying and utterly plausible scenario, and an important way to
examine the fragile state of American democracy in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021,
insurrection. Like many Americans, we have been asking a simple question about the future of
our country: will American Democracy survive? In an era of increasing polarization, partisanship
and political violence, the stability of our democracy is no longer a given.
The inspiration for the exercisewas the publication of an editorial in the Washington Post on
December 7, 2021 (viewable here), written by three retired generals, calling on the Defense
Department to “war game the next potential post-election insurrection or coup attempt.” The
generals identified the threat presented by a small number of active duty military who might
refuse to obey the orders of the lawfully elected commander-in-chief. They wrote: “the potential
for a military breakdown mirroring societal or political breakdown is very real.”
Vet Voice decided to take up the challenge of organizing the war game and called on a network
of retired military and intelligence officers, and former elected officials from the last five
Presidential administrations, to participate. The group included Republicans, Democrats and
those who identified as non-partisan. Among them were two former US Senators, a US
Governor, a handful of retired generals, and veterans of the CIA, FBI, DHS, and DOD. The
exercise would be set in a representation of the White House Situation Room, the underground
command center where the President manages civilian and military crises. Around the table
would be the President and his senior political and military advisors, all played by former officials
recruited by Vet Voice.An insurrectionist command center, the “red cell,”composed of military
veterans — all experts on the tactics of the far right — would work in realtime to undermine the
President and his advisors, to block the peaceful transfer of power. In other words, '''if the Red
Cell wins, democracy loses.'''
The purpose of the exercise, as Vet Voice explained it, was to assess weakness and
vulnerabilities within our political system, [to] harden our democratic institutions, and [to] better
prepare our political and military leaders to confront and manage such a crisis. One participant,
former US Senator Heidi Heitkamp, describes the effort succinctly as “coup prevention 101.” A
confidential written analysis of the war game would be provided to key stakeholders in the US
government.