Roger C. Molander (1940-2012)

Biography

RAND notes with deep regret the passing of Roger Molander on March 25, 2012.

Roger Molander was a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. His focus was terrorism and the use of exercises to enable more-effective decisionmaking on homeland security and counterterrorism strategy, policy, and operational issues. He also worked on the challenges presented to critical U.S. infrastructures by major hurricanes and the challenges to the Intelligence Community presented by a possible influenza pandemic. A major component of his work was leading the application of RAND's "Day After..." exercise methodology to these issues. This methodology, originally developed to explore the counter-nuclear proliferation problem, has more recently been applied to cyberspace warfare against critical U.S. infrastructures and to the impact of emerging facets of electronic commerce (such as e-cash, Internet banking, and Internet gambling) on the United States and global anti–money laundering strategy. Prior to RAND, Molander was a member of the National Security Council (NSC) staff at the White House (1974–1981), where his principal area of responsibility was strategic nuclear arms control. Prior to joining the NSC staff, he worked at the U.S. Department of Defense. From 1981 to 1989, he was involved in developing educational materials on nuclear war and other major national policy issues at Ground Zero and the Roosevelt Center for American Policy Studies. Molander received his Ph.D. in engineering science and nuclear engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.