Wednesday, October 16, 4pm, Wexner Center for the Arts [Film/Video Theater], 1871 N. High St.

“War Game” follows a bipartisan group of real-life U.S. defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers with combined experience in five presidential administrations as they participate in an unscripted role-play exercise. Portraying a fictional U.S. president and his advisors, they confront a nationwide insurrection backed by rogue members of the U.S. military after a contested 2024 presidential election. (94 mins., DCP)

Following the screening, join Mershon Center for International Security Studies professors Laura Dugan and Dakota Rudesill for a conversation highlighting the risks, realities, and facts pertinent to our current state of political and cultural affairs. The conversation is moderated by Aaron Yarmel, associate director of the OSU Center for Ethics and Human Values [CEHV].

About the Speakers

Laura Dugan

Ralph D. Mershon Professor of Human Security and Professor of Sociology Laura Dugan teaches at Ohio State. Her research has been motivated by the broader question of how leaders, policies, and practice affect the risk of violence and other types of insecurities due to extremist ideologies and hateful intent. Dr. Dugan is one of the founding principal investigators of the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), Government Actions in Terrorist Environments (GATE), and datasets of posts by state and federal politicians on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Truth Social. She has published widely across disciplinary journals.

Dakota Rudesill

Ohio State Associate Professor of Law Dakota Rudesill is a scholar, teacher, and practitioner of national security law and policy, focusing on the military, militias, secrecy, use of force, and nuclear weapons. He has advised senior leaders in all three branches of the federal government, including on a presidential transition team, a presidential task force, in the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), and a U.S. Senate committee professional staff.

RSVP for this event by using this link.

Co-sponsored by Mershon Center for International Security Studies, Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University, OSU Center for Ethics and Human Values [CEHV], and OSU Department of Sociology.

Hosted by Wexner Center for the Arts.