III. Initial description

Millennium Challenge 02 (MC 02) took place from July 24, 2002 to August 15, 2002. [1] The war game was “congressionally directed in the 2001 National Defense Authorization Act to explore critical war fighting challenges at the operational level of war that will confront United States joint military forces in the future.” [2] The exercise was organized and sponsored by the U.S Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM). [3]

MC 02 involved 13,500 personnel from all four branches of the armed forces and utilized a combination of live action and computer simulations. [4] It also incorporated elements from U.S. Special Operations Command, most functional and regional commands, and various Department of Defense and federal agencies. [5] The total cost was approximately $250 million. [6]

Descriptions of the scenario for MC 02 differ. In one description, the U.S. Military, known as the “Blue force,” was fighting against the “Red force” in a “fictitious” Persian Gulf country ruled by a megalomaniac dictator. [7] The description from USJFCOM is as follows:

The scenario was...a very de-stabled Middle Eastern nation. It was a puppet government with a very strong, strong rogue commander, very strong, that commanded over half of the country's land mass and had strong loyalties -- religious, ethnic loyalties -- across that nation and region, but did not have the support of the weak government. The weak government had the support of our nation, but we were very concerned about this rogue commander. And the rogue commander husbanded about four or five terrorist groups, international groups. [8]

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1. Joint Force Command, “Millennium Challenge 02."

2. Department of Defense News Release, “U.S. Joint Forces Command Sponsors Millennium Challenge 02,” July 12, 2002.

3. Id.

4. Fred Kaplan, “War Gamed,” Slate, March 28, 2003; Sean D. Naylor, “War Games Rigged?” Army Times, August 16, 2002.

5. Department of Defense News Release, “U.S. Joint Forces Command Sponsors Millennium Challenge 02.”

6. Kaplan, “War Gamed;” Naylor, “War Games Rigged?”

7. Brendan I. Koerner, “How Do the Pentagon's 'War Games' Work?” Slate, September 17, 2002; Julian Borger, “Wake-up call,” The Guardian, September 6, 2002.

8. Department of Defense News Transcript, “Gen. Kernan And Maj. Gen. Cash Discuss Millennium Challenge's Lessons Learned,” September 17, 2002; statement by Maj. Gen. Dean Cash.