Decision-Focused Learning in Network Interdiction Games

We study decision-focused learning (DFL) in shortest-path network interdiction (SPNI) games, a Stackelberg game where an interdictor (leader) strengthens the networks' arcs against attacks, while an evader (follower) who is uncertain about costs of attacking network arcs relies on a machine-learned predictor to identify the shortest path. While DFL is highly effective as an end-to-end optimization framework, we show that it faces a fundamental structural failure when employed in this game setting: its training objective admits a broad decision-equivalence class of cost estimators that achieve zero nominal loss yet fail under interdiction, reversing DFL's usual advantage over a naive predi...

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