Backing doctors test preparedness for attempted coup

Hearing that Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber’s documentary involves a war game designed to test the country’s preparedness for a national security crisis, it’s easy to imagine a scenario involving an international threat posed by countries like China or Russia. No such luck. It turns out War Games Documented an exercise surrounding an insider threat, an insurrection on January 6, 2021. happens, in fact, if one of the Republican presidential candidates decides to incite more violence, which seems more likely.

The filmmakers have experience working with such concepts. Moss co-directed the critically acclaimed boys state and girls statein which groups of young people attempted to form a democratic government; Gerber and Moss did full battle rattleabout the U.S. Army’s simulated war in Iraq in California’s Mojave Desert.

The directors’ new collaboration looks at a war game played by veterans’ rights group Vet Voice, imagining the government’s response to a possible coup following a disputed presidential election. In other words, the unrest is very similar to January 6, with the added danger of members of the military egging on the rebels. One of the participants, former North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, ​​summed up the exercise as “coup prevention 101.”

Heitkamp was one of many current and former political and military figures who took part in the exercise, which, as documented in the film, resembled a televised version in 2000 fail safe. Many of the big names taking part in the event include former Montana Governor Steve Bullock, who plays “President John Hotham”; former Alabama Senator Doug Jones as attorney general; former NATO commander Wesley Clark serves as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; former FBI agent Peter Strzok — you may remember him from his text messages — serves as FBI director ( Irony is funny); Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera serves as Secretary of Defense.

“Game Advisors” include neoconservative expert Bill Kristol and retired lieutenant colonel Alexander Vindman, who has direct experience dealing with potential dictators.

All of them play their roles so convincingly that you begin to wonder if they are moonlighting as actors. There are some similar characters, such as actor Chris Coffey as failed presidential candidate Robert Strickland, who is oblivious to his crushing defeat. Strickland called on the (fictional) Knights of Columbus (think Oath Keepers) to organize and take control of the U.S. Capitol and state capitols, with many members of the military supporting them on treason charges.

“We’re here to stress-test our national security systems,” said one of the designers of the game, which takes place in a realistic recreation of the Situation Room. As the president and his cabinet members and advisers strategized their response, we saw fake news broadcasts covering the events as well as inflammatory videos and social media messages from Knights of Columbus leader and unsuccessful candidate Strickland, who Klain told his followers, “Together, we will restore the greatness of the American people and this great country.” (Sound familiar?)

Because the events depicted in the exercise had the potential to spiral out of control, a major topic of conversation among the president and his advisers was whether to invoke the Insurrection Act, what one participant called the “nuclear option.” The president was reluctant to take such drastic steps. Some, including a senior advisor played by Heitkamp, ​​urge him to think about it — and by the way, who knew Heitkamp was such a badass? – while others urged caution, saying the power could be abused by the wrong people. “We’re advising this guy. This is not Trump,” someone commented.

There’s a decidedly meta quality to the whole enterprise that makes the whole thing feel a little silly at times. (“I have to say, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security are taking their role seriously,” an off-screen game designer commented approvingly at one point.) War Games It may have a cinematic feel, but it’s a realistic depiction of a nightmare scenario that could very well happen months later. Particularly sobering is the note in the end credits that nearly one-fifth of the defendants on January 6 were veterans.