The very interesting history of information warfare is well documented in Fred Kaplin’s Dark Territory. In it he describes a very interesting motivator for President Reagan and his most senior staff. In June 1983 President Reagan watched the movie “War Games” at Camp David and began to wonder if anything like that could actually come true. He asked his generals. After initial laughter they came back to the President and reported that the truth was actually closer to the movie than they would have liked to believe.
The movie is a classic, full of great acting, a great plot known to most all in the community. For those who haven’t yet seen it, the plot is one many others tried to replicate later. But these guys pulled it off. A young computer whiz kid hacks into a government supercomputer and starts a game called “global thermonuclear war”, not realizing the game is real. It’s then a race against time to convince the computer that “the only way to win is not to play.”
Watch now on Amazon Prime Video.