War Game

- That's interesting. Trunk checks.

Yeah. We're not gonna drive shit in there.

This is gonna be the most high vis area.

So this is where we're gonna want people seeing, you know,

US troops gunning down patriotic Americans.

Can you keep tabs on the suburban behind us

with your side view? Not like hardcore.

I just wanna see if they follow us

all the way across the bridge.

- Key is trying to lure the response teams

into Virginia - Mm-hmm.

and then cutting the bridges.

- Yeah. 'Cause all of our insiders are in the DC Guard.

Correct? - Mm-hmm.

Here's Washington Monument,

here's the White House, - Mm-hmm.

a dead reckoning from us to the Washington Monument,

and you're gonna watch that fucker right across.

Yep.

- A little gasoline, you've got a big distraction.

Right.

- That close to the Pentagon's - Yeah.

gonna get a response.

Right.

Ready?

Yep.

My fellow Americans,

when our ancestors came to these shores centuries ago,

they brought with them two essential elements

that would ensure their survival,

faith, and purpose.

Faith is a gift from God to us.

Purpose is what gives us the ability

to put that power to use.

It is undeniable that this past election was stolen

and it is Hotham who is attempting a coup

to consolidate his illegitimate power and eliminate

our God-given freedoms.

To all those members of the armed forces

watching and listening,

join with us to defend our liberty and land,

with faith and purpose. America,

God and freedom will prevail.

Yeah. Yep.

- Should I be friendlier?

- No. Mm-mm. - No?

- I'm gonna join up. - Yeah?

You motivated yourself?

- I did. - Okay.

- Guys happy with that?

- About a year ago, three Generals penned an op-ed

in the Washington Post that said,

"We're increasingly concerned about extremism in the ranks

and that the next insurrection like activity

could involve members of the active duty military.

One of the recommendations the generals made was that

the Pentagon and DHS should take some time

to war game what that might look like

and what the implications would be.

I am President Hotham,

Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces,

Chief Executive of the United States of America,

elected to a four-year term,

just completed reelection campaign,

which is under fault's dispute.

- So I'm playing the role of Chief of National Guard Bureau

and the DC Commander.

- Well, I am Secretary of Homeland Security.

It's a tough job. - It's a tough job, right?

- Somebody's gotta do it, - Somebody.

right? Might as well be you, right?

Yeah.

Are you nervous at all?

- It's not a nervousness of playing the exercise,

as much as we're probably gonna have to make decisions about

level of force. - Mm-hmm.

And that, that's very heavy.

I've been, I've been, I've been in the real situation room.

These are really tough decisions.

I'm David Crease.

I'm the Director of National Intelligence

for this exercise. - Oh, great.

- Just wanted to say hello. - Great.

- You'll be seeing me at the table.

- Okay, great. - Yeah.

- All right. Tell me, - Enjoy it.

what's your background here? - CIA.

- That voice is not the Pentagon.

We're not DHS, but we do have an incredible number

of folks in our network who have held positions

in these agencies who volunteered to serve

and are taking this issue really seriously.

So we thought why not bring them all together

and where things go from there

will be up to the role players.

- Seated around this room is an incredible diversity

of professional experience

spanning the last five presidential administrations.

All of us are here today

because we are increasingly concerned

by the rise of domestic extremism

and radicalization in this country,

specifically within the active duty military forces.

I don't need to tell you that the alarms are flashing red.

Most of you have at one point, sworn under oath

to protect and defend the constitution.

Today, we'll examine a frightening scenario.

What happens when those in uniform break that oath?

- I think what brought us all together is

a need to be better prepared,

and the exercise is

Introduction to Coup Prevention 101.

- I'm a retired Lieutenant General.

I spent 37 years in the Army.

I'm pretty adamantly non-partisan.

In fact, that was one of my conditions for participation,

that it was not a partisan exercise

because this should not be about politics.

This is about security.

So we have the situation room,

we've got the press briefing room,

and we've got the Red Cell room.

- Classic terminology for war gaming...

White cell is your game masters

controlling the scenario and adding injects.

Blue team is typically the good guys.

And then Red Cell is your opponent.

- Me and my team, we spend all day, every day,

studying extremist movements.

In the simulation, we're like the real chaos agents,

like we're the ground,

ground teams, right? - Right. Yeah. Yeah.

You guys are the,

the Bannon stone figures. - But we're in touch.

Yes.

- The events of January 6th surprised a lot of Americans.

It did not surprise those who followed the far right.

These threats are advancing in a way

that the average American just has no idea.

Eroding confidence in democracy was successful.

Next January 6th is another inflection point.

These insurrectionists have recognized

that this certification of the next president

is a vulnerability that can be exploited.

Three, two... From Washington,

I'm Isha Sesay.

The question on the minds of many at this moment is,

is our government and military

prepared to face this challenge?

- We're certainly as a country more divided

than any time in my lifetime.

I thought that fever would break. I don't think that it has.

- What I wanna do is think about the unthinkable,

the plausible scenario that seems implausible.

And do all of this

with sort of the ghosts of January 6th hovering over us,

knowing what could happen if the government

doesn't respond in the right way.

This isn't scripted.

I have no idea if at the end of this exercise

this country collapses or comes together.

- The scenario that we've designed

begins with a contested election.

You have members of the active military

siding with the losing candidate and disobeying orders.

Welcome everyone. Thank you for being here.

You have six hours to avert a civil war

and ensure the peaceful transfer of power.

If the clock runs out and Congress fails

to certify the election results,

you lose and the insurrection to swing.

This is not something

that is just one party versus another.

It is a force that could tear our country apart.

- What we are here to do is stress test

our national security system.

I want them to be prepared for the worst case scenarios.

If the bad guys in this scenario win, democracy loses.

- Mr. President, we are gonna be starting the game

in 5,

4,

3,

2,

1.

- We're breaking into regular programming

to bring you this special report from the Capitol,

where Congress is due to convene,

to certify President John Hotham's election to a second term

after his defeat of Robert Strickland.

But we are now getting word that thousands have gathered

on the National Mall with hundreds of protestors

currently facing off against law enforcement.

This is what we know at the moment.

A security checkpoint at the Capitol has appeared

to have been breached by protestors for Robert Strickland

with the help of DC Guardsmen assigned to two units

that had been securing the checkpoints.

This is breaking news. It is fast developing.

We are awaiting word from the Pentagon and the White House

on how severe the security situation is