Join Us!

Join the National Security Policy Center for a tabletop exercise designed by MPP candidates at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Part of the 2026 Intelligence and Security Careers Week, this simulation is intended to mirror how a national security crisis might unfold so students can experience real-world decision making processes for themselves.

This event is open to students of ALL years and majors – many intelligence agencies look to recruit 1st and 2nd years for internships, and 3rd and 4th years for full-time opportunities.

Scenario

U.S. Rapid Evacuation of Personnel in Bahrain

Iran and the United States are in active conflict. As part of the broader fighting, Iran launches missile and drone strikes against Bahrain, targeting U.S. military installations, including naval assets tied to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, along with Bahraini government and infrastructure sites. The strikes continue over several days, straining Bahrain’s air defenses and raising uncertainty about how far the conflict will spread across the Gulf.

As the security situation deteriorates, the U.S. Embassy in Manama begins evacuating nonessential personnel, dependents, and American citizens in the country. Commercial flights become unreliable as the strikes continue, forcing the embassy and DoD to rely more heavily on military lift and alternate routes out of the country. The evacuation raises the same hard questions any crisis like this does: who gets priority, how fast people can move, what assets are available to move them, and how the U.S. balances getting people out safely against maintaining its broader military and diplomatic footprint in the region.