WMD

Gaming Weapons of Mass Destruction Course - From Policy to Practice

3-Day Course

31 March - 2 April 2026

1000 to 1800 ET

Online (Zoom)


Stay Updated Register

Overview

Agenda

Instructors

Registration

Overview

Gaming Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD – defined as Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological agents) will be a three-day course focused on developing and executing games related to WMD in all its forms. While the basics of WMD capabilities and game design will be discussed, this will be a course focused on the intersection of WMD and gaming. It will not be either a WMD or gaming course; for those topics see other offerings.

Objectives:

  • Understanding the unique attributes of WMD and how they affect game design, both for games focused on WMD as well as WMD played in other games.
  • How to integrate technical data and information into games.
  • Games as a tool for response preparedness, both at the tactical and operational level of war.
  • Building games on WMD policy, deterrence, as well as countermeasures and response.
  • Unique attributes of chemical, biological, or nuclear games including a discussion of the various forms of nuclear games and their application to other agents.

 

No prior experience is required for this course, though a basic familiarity with various agents and their effects would be helpful, as would a basic understanding of professional gaming and how it is used.  The instructors will adapt in real time to class requirements (e.g., if the class is interested in animal and plant targets, the instructors have extensive experience in designing games on those subjects as well).

Agenda

Instructors

Dr. Ruby E. Booth

Dr. Ruby E. Booth is a principal member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories, where she serves as a cybersecurity analyst and national security subject matter expert. She specializes in the interaction between human behavior and cybersecurity.

She received her undergraduate degree from Rhodes College and an MS and PhD from the University of Memphis. She is a nonresident fellow of the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab and the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity at the University of California, Berkeley.

Before starting her work in the national security field, she spent over a decade working and writing in the hobby games industry.

Dr. Christine Hughes

Dr. Christine Hughes has worked at the Center for Naval Analyses since 2002 and is presently a Principal Research Scientist. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Duke University, and was a National Institute of Health postdoctoral fellow at the Cellular Biophysics and Biochemistry Program at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

She interviewed at CNA on 9/11 and this influenced her decision to leave academia to support the Navy and DOD. Dr. Hughes has worked in several areas including chemical and biological weapon defense analysis and wargaming, biometric and forensic exploitation, sensitive site exploitation, weapons technical intelligence, identity management, and information operations.

She supported the Naval Criminal Investigative Service as a counterterrorism intelligence analyst at the FBI National Joint Terrorism Task Force from 2006 to 2009. She has worked on several Congressionally-mandated studies dealing with research, development, testing and evaluation within DOD and on a recent Capabilities Based Assessment for chem bio gaps in the US Forces Korea area of responsibility for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense - Chemical and Biological Defense./p>

Dr. Roger Mason

Dr. Roger Mason retired after 29 years of public safety experience in Los Angeles County. For the past fifteen years he has specialized in emergency management and the development of wargames and exercises.

He has designed over 50 emergency management and public safety wargames and hybrid game/functional exercises. His clients include National Defense University, Penn State University, the University of Hawaii, the US Army, and the CNA Corporation. Dr. Mason has served as the wargaming professor for the Institute for Intelligence Analysis, Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain.

Dr. Mason is a published author on the topic of wargames. He is the co-founder of LECMgt, a strategic management firm based in Camarillo, California. He holds a PhD in Management and Decision Sciences from Walden University and an M.A. in Public Administration from California State University, Northridge. He retired after 37 years of service with the Air National Guard/USAF Reserve.

Dr. Ed McGrady

Dr. McGrady writes, speaks, and teaches on the design of professional games. He is an adjunct senior fellow in gaming at CNAS, teaches and manages game design courses for MORS/Virginia Tech, and runs a business devoted to using games and game techniques to bring innovative experiences in new areas. His recent book, Roll to Save: Gaming Disease Response, describes designing games in support of public health professionals.

In the past Dr. McGrady built and directed a team of 10-20 analysts at CNA devoted to the design and execution of professional games. Dr. McGrady wrote, taught, and presented on the topic of games and their use in organizational and individual learning. He designed and ran games for many different clients ranging from the White House to the Department of Agriculture to the automotive industry. Dr. McGrady also built a team at CNA devoted to chemical and biological response operations, including domestic response operations.

Dr. McGrady deployed as an analyst with US Forces in Haiti during operation Uphold Democracy, onboard USS Nimitz for Desert Storm, and with operational E-2C squadrons. Dr. McGrady holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He has published extensively in the chemical engineering, physics, and national security fields and is widely cited for his work on the mathematics of aggregation and fragmentation.

Registration

Register Payment Options Refund Policy

The "Invoice Me" option can only be used for the registration fee. This option won't appear if you have social tickets, CEU courses or tutorials in your cart. If you need assistance registering please contact Ms. Karla Lee-Riviere, karla.lee-riviere@mors.org.

Employer

Member

Non-Member
MORS Government Sponsor* $1,620 $1,680
U.S. Federal Government $1,680 $1,740
National Research Partner $1,653 $1,710
All Others $1,740 $1,800


*Government Sponsor organizations include: Center for Army Analysis, HQDA/DCS Program G-8; Marine Corps Combat Development and Integration; Naval Operations, N81; Secretariat of the Air Force, Studies and Analysis SAF/SA; and OSD, A&S.