This video presents Georgetown Law’s immersive national security crisis simulation that integrates legal analysis and policy decision-making across federal, state, congressional, and media actors under real-time pressure and expert evaluation.
📊 Quick Facts
| Type | Interview |
| Author | Alexandre GAIN |
| Published | April 1, 2026 |
| Source | Visit Source |
| Location(s) | PractiCity City Hall |
🖼️ Illustrations
📝 Abstract
[Summary generated by AI] In this video, the author outlines an immersive national security crisis simulation conducted at Georgetown Law that centers legal analysis within high-stakes policy decision-making. Drawing inspiration from federal Top Officials (TOPOFF) exercises, the simulation adds a distinctive legal core, requiring participants to address domestic and international law while managing concurrent crises: a smallpox outbreak in New York and complications at a nuclear reactor in New Mexico, alongside cyber intrusions implicating foreign servers. Resources include a control team orchestrating scenario dynamics; faculty conveners who press participants toward decision points; a live, student-run media outlet (VNN) producing pre-recorded segments and real-time interviews; and distinguished judges—James Baker, John Bates, and John Norton Moore—who observe, assess, and provide feedback. Methods involve structured role-play across four nodes: the National Security Council (DoD, White House, ODNI/CIA, DHS, HHS, DOJ/FBI), congressional committees with subpoena and budget authority, state and local leadership (governor, mayor, National Guard, public health, police), and an active media environment to test information triage. Outcomes include rapid policy recommendations to a presidential principal, legal memoranda addressing authorities and constraints (e.g., UN Convention on the Law of the Sea), coordinated interagency responses, public communications, and expert after-action feedback—ultimately training students to distinguish legal authority from political authority under crisis conditions.