Junior officers created CONPLAN 8888 in 2011 as part of a training exercise, and the elaborate plan details different types of zombies, ways the U.S. government could react to an outbreak, and even the Constitutional rights of the undead.
Wikimedia CommonsThe opening to the CONOP 8888 document.
“Zombies are horribly dangerous to all human life and zombie infections have the potential to seriously undermine national security and economic activities that sustain our way of life. Therefore having a population that is not composed of zombies or at risk from their malign influence is vital to U.S. and Allied National Interests.”
This rather obvious summation of the threat posed by the living dead doesn’t come from a horror movie script or a panicked blog post. It comes directly from the pages of CONOP 8888, a very real document drafted by U.S. military planners. Formally titled “Counter-Zombie Dominance,” the unclassified report details exactly how the most powerful military on Earth would respond to a full-scale zombie outbreak.
Yes, the U.S. government drafted an official zombie preparation plan. And as the disclaimer on the very first page states with bureaucratic dryness: “This plan was not actually designed as a joke.”
The Origins Of The Post-Apocalyptic Plan
Dating from April 2011, CONOP 8888 is the work of military officers training at the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) in Omaha, Nebraska. As one of the Department of Defense’s ten unified combatant commands, USSTRATCOM is arguably one of the most serious organizations on the planet, responsible for overseeing global strike capabilities and strategic deterrence.
Yet, this is the organization that produced an honest-to-goodness zombie defense strategy.
Public DomainZombies as depicted in the 1968 George Romero film Night of the Living Dead.
Made public thanks to a report by Foreign Policy in 2014, the document serves as a comprehensive outline of what must be done if the sort of apocalypse depicted in The Walking Dead or World War Z happens in reality.
While the premise may seem absurd, the execution is deadly serious, providing detailed explanations of the legal, political, and logistical hurdles involved in a total war against the undead.
Strategy For Combatting The Living Dead
One of the key advantages the military possesses in a zombie war is the immediate relaxation of the rules of engagement. As the report notes, “U.S. and international law regulate military operations only insofar as human and animal life are concerned. There are almost no restrictions on hostile actions… against pathogenic life forms, organic-robotic entities, or ‘traditional’ zombies.”
Because zombies are technically already dead, the report concludes there are almost no restrictions on hostile actions against them. This allows for a “kill-on-sight” policy without the burden of the Geneva Convention.
To execute this, CONOP 8888 outlines a specific military narrative that moves through six distinct phases.
It begins with “Shape” and “Deter,” a period where the government monitors the environment for zombie-inducing events. The authors did acknowledge the irony here, since zombies cannot be deterred themselves. Instead, the goal is to deter other adversaries from taking advantage of the chaos while restoring public confidence in the government.
AMCOne of the zombies from the Walking Dead series.
From there, the plan escalates to “Seize Initiative” and “Dominate.” These are the active combat phases where military forces conduct sweeping operations to secure infected areas. The instructions are blunt: forces must neutralize the threat by killing zombies and burning the bodies to completely remove the vector of infection.
Once the hordes are thinned, the military pivots to “Stabilize,” rooting out remaining pockets of resistance, before finally moving to “Restore Civil Authority,” handing control back to civilian agencies to rebuild a shattered society.
And operations like this wouldn’t only be conducted domestically, according to CONOP 8888. The report also expects that there will be a global element to any zombie outbreak, which means that the U.S. will plan to coordinate attacks on international zombies in order to protect its foreign allies — and enemies.
As the report states, “Because zombies pose a threat to all ‘non-zombie’ human life (hereafter referred to as ‘humans’), USSTRATCOM will be prepared to preserve the sanctity of human life and conduct operations in support of any human population-including traditional adversaries.”
A Bestiary Of Threats
From its international scope to its multi-phase attack plan, CONOP 8888 is remarkably thorough, covering every conceivable type of zombie.
The report primarily focuses on Pathogenic Zombies, the classic movie monsters created by a contagion. Somewhat humorously, the report warns that even atheists within the ranks could be turned by this contagion, suggesting intervention by the military’s Chaplains Corps may be necessary.
But the planners also prepared for the bizarre.
They drafted contingencies for Radiation Zombies, Evil Magic Zombies born from “occult experimentation,” and Space Zombies created by alien toxins. They even included “Vegetarian Zombies,” a direct nod to the popular game Plants vs. Zombies, noting that while they pose a low threat to humans, they are a high threat to the nation’s food supply.
EAA screenshot from the popular mobile game Plants Vs. Zombies.
The report even makes special mention of Chicken Zombies, which it notes are the only kind that have actually been proven to exist. As the report summarizes, these chickens are ones that have been euthanized by being sealed inside chambers and suffocated with carbon dioxide — only to survive and claw their way back out of the grave (if they weren’t actually dead when they were buried).
While CONOP 8888 admits these creatures are “simply terrifying to behold,” it ultimately categorizes them as a nuisance rather than a strategic threat — and of little danger to humans. And despite the fact that these “Chicken Zombies” do exist, their inclusion in CONOP 8888 in the first place is a fairly solid indication that the plan wasn’t devised completely in earnest.
Why Does CONOP 8888 Exist?
If the Pentagon doesn’t actually believe the dead are rising, why spend tax dollars writing this?
According to a spokesperson for the U.S. Strategic Command, “The document is identified as a training tool used in an in-house training exercise where students learn about the basic concepts of military plans and order development through a fictional training scenario.”
In other words, CONOP 8888 is basically a training exercise featuring a fictitious enemy rather than an actual plan that its authors would envision using in the field. It is, essentially, a way to teach dry, complex military planning without boring students to death.
Sony PicturesA zombie from Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later.
But there is a second, more diplomatic reason for using zombies. The U.S. constantly trains to plan for national security threats. However, if a training plan leaks that details a hypothetical U.S. invasion of a real country — say, Brazil or Canada — it creates a diplomatic nightmare.
By using a “fictitious adversary” like zombies, planners can practice the real mechanics of warfare—marshalling resources, declaring martial law, and coordinating with FEMA — without risking damage to foreign relations. It allows planners to think outside the box regarding civil collapse without offending any global allies.
So while it always pays to be prepared, you can rest easy in the knowledge that the U.S. government isn’t seriously expecting a zombie apocalypse — at least, as far as we know.
After this look at CONOP 8888, check out the most interesting facts about zombies. Then, step inside an astounding zombie-proof house.
