U.S. Spies Receiving Training Via Custom Video Games
by Terrence O'Brien, posted May 9th 2008 at 3:10PM
Now the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is getting in on the action with three games of its own in which trainees play a rookie intelligence analyst who has to solve a series of problems and avert crises, without weapons of course. The three games -- 'Rapid Onset,' 'Vital Passage,' and 'Sudden Thrust' -- teach the fundamentals of intelligence analysis through exercises involving an attack on an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, the purchase of an aging Soviet aircraft carrier by China, and a the rescuing of a hijacked natural gas tanker in New York Harbor.
The DIA hopes these custom video games will make training easier and cheaper, especially as they're asked to train 2,000 combat military personnel deployed overseas where classrooms and instructors are in limited availability. [Source: Wired]
