Strategic gaming to support critical national infrastructure protection: a practitioner's view

The development of robust policy and plans for Critical National Infrastructure Protection (CNIP) against Malicious Electronic Attack, and other threats presents serious challenges for decision-makers and analysts alike. Chiefly this is because the implications of disruption to networked societies are not well understood or easily modelled. Recognising a need for analytical tools that facilitate rapid learning about complex sociotechnical problems, Dstl has successfully used strategic gaming to assist senior decision-makers in exploring the issues surrounding CNIP and evolving better strategies for managing them. This paper provides an experienced practitioner's view on the general approach, pitfalls and benefits that the UK has derived from strategic gaming to support CNIP policy development.