The last germ-game simulation in the United States was in 2001 and it did not go well.

Judge as of 2015. The claim has two parts: (a) the most recent US germ-game simulation (a war-game-style exercise of a pandemic or biological attack, such as the June 2001 'Dark Winter' smallpox exercise) took place in 2001; (b) that exercise went badly, meaning it showed serious failures in response, containment or coordination. True: both parts hold, and no comparable US-run pandemic or bioterror simulation took place between 2002 and 2015. Mostly true: the 2001 exercise went badly and later US exercises were minor or narrow (e.g. single-agency drills), not comparable high-level simulations. Mixed: the 2001 exercise went badly, but one or more comparable US simulations took place later (e.g. TOPOFF exercises with biological scenarios, Atlantic Storm 2005), so the 'last time' part fails. Mostly false: there was no notable 2001 exercise that went poorly but there was some smaller one, or several comparable later exercises clearly contradict 'last'. False: no such 2001 simulation existed, or its documented outcome was not poor.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 America’s Pandemic War Games Don’t End Well Foreign Policy · 1 April 2020

   “In 2005, “Atlantic Storm,” organized by the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, simulated an international outbreak of a smallpox pandemic (as opposed to the domestic smallpox terrorism attack stipulated by Dark Winter).”

2. E2 Global Mercury: An International Bioterrorism Exercise U.S. Department of State · 8 September 2003

   “The Department of State will participate with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Health Ministries of seven other member nations of the Global Health Security Action Group in a tabletop Bioterrorism Exercise from September 8 - 10, 2003.”

3. E3 Operation Dark Winter - Wikipedia Wikipedia · 15 July 2005

   “In the absence of sufficient preparation, Dark Winter revealed that the lack of sufficient vaccine or drugs to prevent the spread of disease severely limited management options.”

4. E4 Shining Light on “Dark Winter” Clinical Infectious Diseases (Oxford Academic) · 1 April 2002

   “On 22–23 June 2001, the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, in collaboration with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Analytic Services Institute for Homeland Security, and the Oklahoma National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, held a senior-level exercise entitled “Dark Winter” that simulated a covert smallpox attack on the United States.”

E4 confirms that "Dark Winter", a senior-level simulation of a covert smallpox attack on the United States, was held on 22–23 June 2001. E3 says the exercise showed that a lack of vaccine and drugs severely limited management options, so the claim that it went badly holds. However, comparable simulations took place later. E1 describes "Atlantic Storm" in 2005, organized by the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which simulated an international smallpox outbreak. E2 records a 2003 tabletop bioterrorism exercise, "Global Mercury", that included the US Department of Health and Human Services and the State Department. Because of these later exercises, the claim that 2001 was "the last time" fails.