Walter L. Perry
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Education
Overview
Biography
Walter Perry is a senior information scientist at the RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Perry recently led two projects on Operation Iraqi Freedom. The first was RAND's multiyear involvement in the Operational Analysis and Support Team for the Joint IED Defeat Organization, and the second was a congressionally mandated analysis of alternative drawdown plans for the exit of U.S. troops from Iraq. Prior to these studies, Perry led RAND's analysis effort in support of the “Army After Next” project and its successor on Army transformation. He led an Army-sponsored study that has resulted in a fully documented account of the Kosovo conflict, operations in Afghanistan, and major combat operations in Iraq. He developed an algorithm for the Defense intelligence Agency designed to indicate when a terrorist group is on the verge of acquiring weapons of mass destruction. He conducted research into methods for developing data fusion and information-processing algorithms and analyzing large command-and-control problems through network modeling. At the same time, he developed several metrics of the impact of command and control on military operations for both Army and Navy applications. Perry joined RAND in 1984 after a 20-year career with the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He has taught electrical engineering and computer sciences at The George Washington University, statistics at George Mason University, and mathematics at West Point. Perry received his Ph.D. from George Mason University.
Research Focus
Previous Positions
Telecommunications Policy Analyst, Manager, National Communications SystemRecent Projects
- Minimizing the threat from improvised explosive devices
- Analytic support to intelligence in counterinsurgencies
- Withdrawal from Iraq: alternative schedules
Selected Publications
Walter Perry et al., Predicting Suicide Attacks: Integrating Spatial, Temporal, and Social Features of Terrorist Attack Targets, RAND (MG-1246), 2013
Walter L. Perry, Roald Euller, Jennifer Kavanagh, Nicholas Salcedo, Allocating Marine Expeditionary Unit Equipment and Personnel to Minimize Shortfalls, RAND (TR-1253), 2012
Christopher G. Pernin, Elliot Axelband, Jeffrey A. Drezner, Brian B. Dille, John Gordon IV, Bruce J. Held, K. Scott McMahon, Walter L. Perry, Christopher Rizzi, Akhil R. Shah, Peter A. Wilson, Jerry M. Sollinger, Lessons from the Army's Future Combat Systems Program, RAND (MG-1206), 2012
Walter L. Perry, et al, Withdrawing from Iraq: Alternative Schedules, Associated Risks, and Mitigating Strategies, RAND Corporation (MR-882), 2009
Walter Perry et al., Exploring Information Superiority: A Methodology for Measuring the Quality of Information and Its Impact on Shared Awareness, RAND Corporation (MR-1467), 2004
T. J. Sullivan and W. L. Perry, "Identifying Indicators of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Weapons Development Activity in Sub-national Terrorist Groups," Journal of the Operational Research Society, 55(4), 2004
Walter L. Perry and James Moffat, Information Sharing Among Military Headquarters: The Effects on Decisionmaking, RAND Corporation (MG-226), 2004
Walter L. Perry "Linking Systems Performance and Operational Effectiveness," in Larry B. Rainey and Andrew Loerch, eds, Methods for Conducting Military Operational Analysis: Best Practices in Use Throughout the Department of Defense (Methods), Military Operations Research Society, 2004
Languages
French, GermanRecent Media Appearances
Interviews: MIT Technology Review; NPR
Commentary: Joint Force Quarterly
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