MARITIME STABILITY OPERATIONS GAME: GAME REPORT

During the period of 6-8 December 2011, the United States Naval War College (NWC) in Newport, Rhode Island hosted the Maritime Stability Operations Game (MSTOG). The MSTOG was developed and executed at the request of the game sponsor, the Navy Irregular Warfare Program Office (NIWO).
The purpose of the MSTOG was to explore how to conduct maritime stability operations (MSTO) in order to prevent and respond to instability, thus building upon previous NIWO-sponsored efforts, such as the Irregular Challenges 2010 Game. Based on NIWO’s areas of interest and informed by this literature review, the MSTOG was structured to explore the three research areas concerning implications to (1) emerging MSTO doctrine, (2) future force structure, and (3) the overall maritime strategy relative to MSTO. Consequently, the following overarching research questions were developed:
 How do missions associated with maritime stability operations prevent and respond to instability?
 How do maritime stability operations contribute to achieving broader strategic considerations?