Newsweek’s War Game Players
Replicating a meeting of the Principals Committee—the team the president relies on for recommendations about matters of the highest importance—the simulation sought to answer what might happen if the Israelis strike Iran before the November election?
Gage Skidmore
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Iranians “can cause us to lose 100 or more Americans in a minute.”
Played by Bing West, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan Administration
Paul J. Richards / AFP-Getty Images
White House Chief of Staff
“The president will want everyone to be absolutely clear there are no politics in this situation.”
Played by John Podesta, President Bill Clinton’s White House Chief of Staff, 1998 To 2000
Evan Agostini / AP
Secretary of State
“You don’t say, ‘Israel can do anything it wants and we’ll continue to support them and there is no red line.’?”
Played by Thomas Pickering, Former Ambassador to Israel, Russia, and the United Nations
Lawrence Jackson / AP
Director of National Intelligence
“That Rubicon would be presented to us if the Israelis suffer massive casualties.”
Played by John Mclaughlin, Cia Deputy Director, 2000 To 2004
Courtesy of Mantech
CIA Director
The Iranians “will be very cautious about a direct confrontation with the United States but there are a number of things they might be able to do.”
Played by Richard Kerr, Cia Deputy Director, 1991 to 1992
Courtesy of Center for American Progress
Secretary of Defense
“We need to be clear on the security relationship with Israel. Even if we’re angry [with Netanyahu], we need to show we have their back.”
Played by Rudy Deleon, Deputy Secretary of Defense, 2000 to 2001
Courtesy of Duke University
National Security Adviser
“Our [Kennedy] predecessors had their own pressures in time, with their own huge stakes. Yet they were careful and creative and shrewd. We want to do at least as well, if not better.”
Played by Bruce Jentleson, State Department adviser in the Clinton and Obama administrations
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