With the shift to Great Power Competition with nuclear armed near-peer adversaries, the DoD has been rethinking how to operate on a potentially nuclear battlefield. One enduring challenge to planning for combat involving nuclear weapons, is how to properly wargame adversary nuclear weapon use and the consequences to military units. This webinar will look at some of the challenges of wargaming nuclear weapons effects, as well as provide some potential solutions to make nuclear weapons more playable in future wargames.
COL Jim Gifford, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy at the National Defense University. Prior to this assignment he led the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Nuclear Wargaming team, supporting Department of Defense, US Government, and Allied wargames with nuclear weapon effects subject matter expertise and adjudication tools. COL Gifford is a Nuclear and Counter-WMD Officer in the US Army with over 23 years in service. He holds a B.S. in chemistry from the United States Military Academy, a M.A. in management and leadership from Webster University, a M.S. in chemical engineering from M.I.T., and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from NC State University.