The Benefits of Being Bad: Advancing Nuclear Security Education through Adversary Based Exercises

Over the last several decades, simulations and tabletop exercises have maintained prominence as key tools for training and assessment of organizations involved in security and disaster response. Recently, these tools have begun finding their way into graduate school classrooms where the next generation of nuclear security experts are being developed. In an academic environment, instructors have more liberty to adjust the structure of such tabletops so that they highlight the key principles of nuclear security that have broad applicability beyond any highly specific scenario bound to a single facility, mission, or design-basis threat. This paper examines one example of a tabletop exercise implemented during a class exercise conducted in the Introduction to Nuclear Security Science and Analysis graduate course in the University of Tennessee’s Department of Nuclear Engineering. In the exercise, the class was divided into teams, each of which was assigned the task of learning about a real-world extremist organization. Based on the organization chosen, the team developed a plausible, fictitious plan to obtain radioactive material, and develop and employ a radiological dispersal device (RDD) in an attack on the nearby town of Erwin, Tennessee. Instructors used this exercise to provide students an immersive environment in which they grappled with the classical nuclear security concepts of Design Basis Threat and Vulnerability Assessment, while also considering the inherent complexities of real world applications such as the nexus of socio-political, psychological, tactical, and technical considerations. By placing students in the role of the “red team,” student enthusiasm remained piqued, and the class collectively explored the great diversity of tactics, techniques, and procedures that could be employed by a malevolent actor interested in performing such an attack. Similarly, the exercise clearly highlighted the Markov Chain nature of adversary planning and action, as well as the importance of a “defense in depth” approach for security. After Action Reviews and student surveys indicate that this exercise helped reinforce these security principles much better with students than traditional classroom instruction.