US Joint Forces Command has just concluded the first phase of Urban Resolve 2015—a three-phase experiment designed to simulate an urban battlespace in the year 2015. Air Force Col. Terry Kono with JFCOM says that the two-week first phase provided an opportunity to “really make the federation of models and [simulations] work. … It’s a focused environment, refined for the experiment.” The “environment” finds a US-led coalition confronting an adversary equipped with modern capabilities and operating in an urban setting. Phase 1 centered on exploiting human-intelligence collection methods and intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance assets. Phase 2 runs in mid-September, followed by Phase 3 in late October.
The emerging ability to bet on future events using online prediction platforms puts a new twist on classified information: Now there are ways to profit from that insider information.