War Game Exposed U.S. Vulnerability to Low-Tech Warfare

A declassified 2002 war game report reveals that a simulated U.S. Navy battle group was defeated in ten minutes by an enemy using low-tech, unconventional tactics launched from commercial ships. The exercise, called Millennium Challenge 2002, exposed critical vulnerabilities in U.S. military defenses that foreshadowed challenges the nation would later face in Iraq and subsequent conflicts. The report was originally criticized as "rigged" by Marine Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper, who led the opposing forces, and took eleven years to declassify after a Freedom of Information Act request.