The Congressman Owen Pickett Wargaming Center occupies the third floor of Okinawa Hall on the Norfolk Campus of the National Defense University. The Wargaming Center opened in 1999 as an recommendation from the House Armed Services Committee Panel on Military Education for the 100th Congress on which Congressman Pickett was an influential member. The report directed that “The Armed (Joint) Forces Staff College should concentrate on case studies and war games on the combat employment of joint forces… The development of solutions to joint warfighting problems in a joint environment is the best way to teach joint perspective.” The Center was named in honor of Congressman Pickett in August, 2006 on the 60th anniversary of the Joint Forces Staff College (Norfolk Campus). Congressman Pickett represented the Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District from 1987 to 2001. He died on October 27, 2010.
The Pickett Wargaming Center is made up of twenty wargaming suites capable of operated independently supporting individual seminars, or networked together for larger exercises. The Pickett Wargaming Center primarily supports the four JFSC schools and additional NDU programs. The Pickett Wargaming Center has recently hosted NATO-Allied Command Transformation, Military Sealift Command, Joint Staff J-7 and Naval Postgraduate School exercises.