National security education
Exercise Hard Shell
- Client
- A leading Australian university
- Format
- Two-week undergraduate course simulation, 200 students
- Sector
- Government and national security · Universities and academia
What happened
Law and order collapsed in a small island state amid ethnic tension and external competition. Students briefed decision-makers and negotiated a regional response as the situation moved. 97% said it was one of the best educational experiences they had had at university.
What was tested
- Crisis diplomacy
- Whole-of-government coordination
- Briefing under pressure
- Negotiation
“Someone shouted 'check the news' and we all rushed to see what had happened, mid-negotiation. It was a great experience.”
More exercises
01DeliveredCorporate crisis management
Exercise Avian Shield
A poultry producer's leadership team works through an avian influenza outbreak in a single half-day.
Inside Avian Shield
02PartnershipStrategic wargaming
Exercise Ernstfall
Hybrid attacks escalate into an invasion of Lithuania. Germany's security cabinet must decide on Article 5.
Inside Ernstfall
03DeliveredWhole-of-government coordination
Exercise Datum
A submarine misses a communications check-in. Sixty officers coordinate the national response.
Inside Datum
04Ready to runHumanitarian assistance and disaster relief
Exercise Dawn Wave
A catastrophic Indian Ocean tsunami and continuing aftershocks force emerging regional leaders to coordinate relief while navigating diplomacy and national interests.
Inside Dawn Wave
05DeliveredIntelligence collection and analysis
Honeypots and Overcoats
A tsunami, an assassination plot, a cyber attack and a great-power crisis arrived together. Participants triaged disinformation and open-source intelligence while a recurring cast of agentic actors pressed them for decisions.
Inside Honeypots and Overcoats
06Ready to runWildfire readiness
Exercise Red Horizon
Incident management teams test their coordination against a fire that will not wait for peak season.
Inside Red Horizon
07Ready to runWhole-of-government national security
Exercise Pacific Breakpoint
A contested election becomes civil unrest. Civil unrest becomes a regional crisis. Then foreign naval forces arrive.
Inside Pacific Breakpoint
08DeliveredFinancial services operational resilience
Exercise Counterparty
A severe-but-plausible disruption asked one question: can the organisation keep its critical operations running? Leaders decided what to protect, when to escalate and how to communicate as uncertainty grew.
Inside Counterparty
Request a briefing
Which decisions does your team need to practise?
Every scenario here can be adapted to your organisation, or we can build one around the situation you are most concerned about.