Supposing that ..
A terror group detonates a bomb in a major city killing hundreds of people, then threatens more attacks unless their members are released from jails around Europe
An internet virus causes massive disruption to the world-wide web and chaos on financial markets
How certain can you be that governments, multilateral organizations and corporations will know what to do? What will drive their responses? Who is in control?
To test our “systems of last resort” we stage public “war games” or “crisis scenarios” with the very officials who, until recently, would have been tasked with handling such emergencies. They include key figures from a range of backgrounds, including politics, the military, intelligence, and business.
The events, played out in real time before an audience, present them with rapidly developing crises, forcing them to take vital decisions under intense pressure.
Each scenario is minutely plotted and relies on expert advice and guidance in its preparation.
On The Brink was first staged at Cambridge University in October 2015 in cooperation with Corpus Christi College and The Department of Politics and International Studies. Our participants were Sir Malcom Rifkind, former UK Defence and Foreign Secretary, Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of MI6, Jonathan Haslam, former Chief Press Secretary to John Major, and Ambassador Stephen Evans, former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Operations.