Supporting the policy community's research needs.

ICONS simulation tools and its associated simulation development dialogue (SDD) methodology have been employed by think tanks to support the policy community as it evaluates alternative courses of action in crisis situations. Much of this work has focused on East Asia, and, in particular, on examining the ways in which the crisis management mechanisms (CMMs) that the U.S. and China deploy to cope with crises can be better understood by the two sides, and how new CMMs may be developed to better serve the needs of these two nations when crises occur. Among the crisis arenas that have been examined are the Taiwan Strait, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula, and the India-Pakistan border region. Results of these simulations have seen wide circulation within the U.S. and Chinese governments.