“ATTENTION CITIZENS: There has been an attack on the Jordanian Embassy. There have been many injuries and some causalities. Two missing hikers have also been killed. The group responsible for these attacks is said to be the Pan-Arabic Caliphate, or PAC.”
This is the message students in Professor Amos Guiora’s “Global Perspectives on Counterterrorism” class received for their final project: a counterterrorism simulation. The 17 students were divided into three groups. Each had a time slot on April 8, with the simulations lasting for three hours.
All of the groups reacted to the same prompt, designed by former students of the class. Essentially a game, the simulation would play out differently depending on the team’s actions. Students posed as members of different, fictional government organizations that mimic real-life groups. After receiving word of the attack and confirmation from at least two sources, the students gave a press conference explaining what happened.
Stephanie Lewis, a former participant and member of the design team for this year’s simulation, said students are graded on how well they can advocate for and articulate decisions, work as a team, gather information and handle stress.
“The class is very relative [to the community] and a good way to get your foot in the door,” Lewis said.
At the end of the simulation, each group stood in front of a mock congressional panel to explain their reasoning behind their decisions, and are graded based on that testimony.
The class was designed by Guiora, a former member of the Israeli Defense Force, eight years ago. It is open to students in the Masters of Science in International Affairs and Global Enterprise and law programs at the U.
@SidneyMarchant