troops were landing. Now, JFCOM told him, all twelve of those
missiles had been shot down, miraculously and mysteriously,
with a new kind of missile defense. Van Riper had assassinated
the leaders of the pro-U.S. countries in the region. Now, he was
told, those assassinations had no effect.
“The day after the attack, I walked into the command room
and saw the gentleman who was my number two giving my
team a completely different set of instructions,” Van Riper said.
“It was things like — shut off the radar so Blue force are not
interfered with. Move ground forces so marines can land
without any interference. I asked, ‘Can I shoot down one V-
twenty-two?’ and he said, ‘No, you can’t shoot down any V-
twenty-two’s.’ I said, ‘What the hell’s going on in here?’ He
said, ‘Sir, I’ve been given guidance by the program director to
give completely different directions.’ The second round was all
scripted, and if they didn’t get what they liked, they would just
run it again.”
Millennium Challenge, the sequel, was won by Blue Team in
a rout. There were no surprises the second time around, no
insight puzzles, no opportunities for the complexities and
confusion of the real world to intrude on the Pentagon’s
experiment. And when the sequel was over, the analysts at