Washington Think Tank Hires ‘Call Of Duty’ Creator To Help Aid Against Future US Terror Attacks

A Washington think tank has hired a video game story writer to aid the organisation on highly potential future attacks against the United States. Dave Anthony, who wrote the 2012 game "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" and has since created the billion-dollar Call of Duty franchise, has accepted to be part of the Pentagon's 'The Art of Future War Project.' He joins other authors, screenwriters and entertainment figures. The project is spearheaded by the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, a subdivision of the non-partisan think tank Atlantic Council.

Steven Grundman, a former Pentagon official and now George Lund fellow of the Atlantic Council, was the one who thought of the project, inspired by the story line of a video game he chanced upon his son playing. He was fascinated seeing how advanced the cold war setting was between China and the U.S. in the game 'Call of Duty: Black Ops II.' Set in 2025, the two rival powers were fighting for the highly precious and essential rare earth elements.

Anthony told AFP that Grundman, albeit the metals story line, "was struck how realistic our portrayal in 'Call of Duty: Black Ops II' was of a future conflict." Grundman told the Washington Post he was glued on his seat watching as how the video makers worked to create a game that was "compelling and insightful, and it's also different."

Anthony said he had a lot of help from David Goyer, Peter Singer and Oliver North to come up with such a story line. Goyer is a screenwriter who worked on the Batman films, Singer is an author who has written about drone warfare, and North is a retired Marine officer turned television personality who rose to fame in the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s.

"You get everybody in a room like that, and all the different perspectives come together," Anthony said. "That combination was fascinating. What I would like to bring to Washington is that kind of thinking."

The Atlantic Council, an influential nonpartisan think tank in the field of international affairs, believes people like Anthony can help sort out issues affecting national security because "their creativity can bring observations and questions that will challenge assumptions and status quo ways." 'The Art of Future War Project' comes after the ISIS released a video riding on the fame of Grand Theft Auto 5 video game, a notoriously violent computer game, to entice and recruit teens into its fold.

That the U.S. has a plethora of potential security threats and attacks is nothing new, Anthony said. "The problem is we're not preparing for it. And the government is not set up to prepare for it. That's what I want to question. What can we do about that?" he said.

Founded in 1961, the Atlantic Council provides a forum for international political, business, and intellectual leaders. It managess ten regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosperity. Its headquarters is in Washington, D.C.

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