Defense Dick Cheney revised the contingency plans of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) for the “Defense of the Arabian Peninsula,” expanding the plans beyond the scope of countering a Soviet invasion in the region to include the potential of an Iraqi assault on Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In January 1990, CENTCOM, under the direction of General Norman Schwarzkopf, began running computer-simulated war games to this effect, and soon after increased its military presence in the Gulf region.
