Middlebury Institute Hosts First West Coast Edition of the International Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge

The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) made history this November by hosting the first-ever West Coast edition of the International Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge, the Atlantic Council’s flagship cyber policy competition. The two-day Monterey event welcomed 22 teams from 15 universities, military academies, and international partners, making it one of the broadest and most globally representative Cyber 9/12 competitions held to date.

Teams traveled from Stanford University, UC Santa Barbara, Texas A&M University, Carnegie Mellon University, Brigham Young University, Georgetown University, Louisiana State University, the U.S. Air Force Academy,  and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. MIIS and Middlebury College together fielded five teams, including the first undergraduate Middlebury delegation at a West Coast 9/12 competition.

MIIS Takes the Stage: Five Teams Proudly Represent the Institute

MIIS was represented by five dynamic teams, showcasing the Institute’s growing strength in cyber strategy and intelligence:

• MIISinformation
• Threat Ninjas
• Team TAMA
• The MIIS Cyber Mafia

And, proudly representing the broader Middlebury family:

• Escape Plan (Middlebury College undergraduate team)

These teams brought together students from NPTS, IPD, Financial Crime Management, Threat Intelligence, TLM, and related programs, reflecting MIIS’s uniquely interdisciplinary approach to cybersecurity.

A Realistic, High-Stakes National Security Crisis Scenario

The competition scenario placed students inside the Situation Room, where they acted as policy advisors to the U.S. National Security Council. Across three escalating intelligence reports, participants confronted a sophisticated cyberattack targeting critical American infrastructure, uncertain attribution pointing to state-enabled actors, intense media pressure, diplomatic tensions, and domestic security fallout. Each phase forced teams to rapidly integrate ambiguous intelligence, forecast escalation, and craft coordinated policy responses balancing national security, diplomacy, public communication, and ethics.

MIIS Teams Advance to Semi-Finals and Finals

MIIS distinguished itself with exceptional performance:

• Threat Ninjas advanced to the semi-finals.
• MIISinformation advanced to the semi-finals and then finals, ultimately placing third overall in a field of elite universities.

This achievement marks one of MIIS’s strongest Cyber 9/12 performances and highlights the Institute’s growing reputation as a West Coast hub for cyber policy innovation.

A Competition Strengthened by MIIS’s Unique Expertise

One of the distinguishing features of the Monterey competition was MIIS’s deep interdisciplinary expertise. Alongside cyber strategy and intelligence instruction, MIIS leveraged its world-renowned Translation & Interpretation (TI) programs, offering live interpretation to Chinese, French, and Spanish for participating teams and attendees. This multilingual support provided by MIIS TI graduate students showcased the Institute’s exceptional ability to integrate cyber policy, global security, and professional language services into a unified professional environment.

This is something no other Cyber 9/12 site in the world provides, and it created an inclusive, international, and professionally realistic competition setting.

Expert Judges & A Powerful Kickoff Panel

The event opened with a powerful panel hosted by the Cyber Collaborative, featuring speakers from:

• Department of Defense
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Google
• Morgan Stanley
• The Atlantic Council
• Local Monterey cyber and intelligence partners

Their insights grounded the competition in real-world national security challenges and provided students with one of the most authentic cyber policy training experiences available.

A Collective Effort Across MIIS

Behind the scenes, more than 20 judges, 10 volunteers, and numerous MIIS students made the event possible. The competition also benefited from campus-wide support, including contributions from student assistants, faculty, administrative staff, and community partners who helped shape the event’s high professional standard.

A Milestone for MIIS and Cyber Education on the West Coast

Hosting the first West Coast Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge affirms MIIS’s emerging leadership in cyber policy education and strategic intelligence training. The Cyber Collaborative plans to expand the Monterey competition in future years, further strengthening MIIS’s role in preparing the next generation of cyber strategists.