Bipartisan Policy Center War Games Cyber ShockWave

February 16, 2010

From the phone in your pocket to the military’s most sophisticated weapons system, cyber espionage and computer hacking represent an economic and national security threat to every American.

What will happen when Cyber threats strike?

The Bipartisan Policy Center has created Cyber ShockWave, a simulated cyber attack on our nation. To defend against this attack, a working group of high-ranking former White House, Cabinet and national security officials will come together. Their mission: to advise the President as the nation grapples with this crisis.

Tuesday’s “cyber attack is going to be war-gamed, in public, for all the country to see. It will be quite realistic, featuring senior intelligence and national security officials, including former directors of intelligence agencies and combatant commands and homeland security advisers,” wrote the TheAtlantic.com' Marc Ambinder. In the scenario, “the U.S. will be hit by a massive, crippling cyber attack from an unknown entity. Key players will convene in the White House situation room and plan the response, from mitigation to (possibly) retaliation.”

The BPC’s Cyber ShockWave will take place on February 16, 2010 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, DC. The simulation will begin at 10:00AM followed by a question and answer session with the participants, the audience and media.

Former senior administration officials and national security experts participating include Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff as National Security Advisor, Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte as Secretary of State, White House Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend as Secretary of Homeland Security, Director of Central Intelligence John McLaughlin as Director of National Intelligence, Senator Bennett Johnston as Secretary of Energy, Director of the National Economic Council Stephen Friedman as Secretary of Treasury, Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick as Attorney General, White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart as Counselor to the President, General Counsel of the National Security Agency Stewart Baker as Cyber Coordinator, and Deputy Commander U.S. European Command Charles F. Wald as Secretary of Defense.