From The Intercept:
Documents obtained by The Intercept via the Freedom of Information Act reveal that a Pentagon war game, called the 2018 Joint Land, Air and Sea Strategic Special Program, or JLASS, offered a scenario in which members of Generation Z, driven by malaise and discontent, launch a “Zbellion” in America in the mid-2020s.
The Zbellion plot was a small part of JLASS 2018, which also featured scenarios involving Islamist militants in Africa, anti-capitalist extremists, and ISIS successors. The war game was conducted by students and faculty from the U.S. military’s war colleges, the training grounds for prospective generals and admirals. While it is explicitly not a national intelligence estimate, the war game, which covers the future through early 2028, is “intended to reflect a plausible depiction of major trends and influences in the world regions,” according to the more than 200 pages of documents.
The imaginary scenario involves a generation that's been psychologically scarred by 9/11, the Great Recessions, college debt, increasing healthcare costs, inequality, and economic frustrations. "Gen Z are often described as seeking independence and opportunity but are also among the least likely to believe there is such a thing as the 'American Dream,' and that the 'system is rigged' against them," the Pentagon writes. If these disillusioned youth were to rebel, they say, it will likely start as a protest movement growing out of major cities, eventually growing into a "Zbellion," a "global cyber campaign to expose injustice and corruption and to support causes it deem[s] beneficial."
Worse, the JLASS 2018 Pentagon documents predict that this Zbellion might rely on things like Bitcoin and micro-donations, as well as using software to target corporations, financial institutions, and other organizations perceived as being "unjust" and "the establishment," possibly using taxation and/or hacking.
Makes you think.
Pentagon War Game includes scenario for military responses to domestic Gen Z Rebellion [Nick Turse / The Intercept]
Image: Fibonacci Blue / Flickr (CC 2.0)
