Senator Warner returned to the Virginia Modeling & Simulation Center campus in Suffolk today to discuss opportunities to build-out the region's mod/sim capabilities.

Folks at VMASC used their advanced computers to demonstrate how modeling and simulation can be applied to everything from traffic flows to evacuation routes, surgical training and even next-generation video games.

Senator Warner asked the local business leaders to think about ways to harvest the available talent as the Pentagon restructures its nearby Joint Forces Command, freeing-up  about 2,000 private contract employees who've worked in modeling and simulation.

"The notion that we are going to return to the days of plenty, especially when it comes to the Department of Defense,  is not going to happen," the Senator said.

"But mod/sim should be a money saver, so how do I help connect you with the new industries that would benefit from this technology?"

Senator Warner was a huge supporter of VMASC, JFCOM and mod/sim when he was Governor, and it's significant that the recent successful effort to preserve many of JFCOM's core functions in Hampton Roads included keeping much of the military's mod/sim capacity in Suffolk.