2013-05-22T11:40:48Z Copyright (c) 2013, The RAND Corporation RAND Corporation http://www.rand.org/blog.html http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/chemical-weapons-in-syria-what-could-the-us-do-about.html 2013-05-21T15:30:00Z 2013-05-21T15:30:00Z

The combined lessons of the attack and disarmament of Iraq's chemical weapons in the First Gulf War suggest that chemical weapons are hard to find and destroy, writes James Quinlivan. Lots can survive even a sustained attack.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/the-real-cyber-threat.html 2013-05-21T13:00:00Z 2013-05-21T13:00:00Z

The fact is that the United States needs to gear up for the coming era of cyber threats — and start by ensuring its financial flank is not catastrophically compromised, writes Mark Sparkman.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/using-mobile-money-to-make-water-safe.html 2013-05-21T07:30:00Z 2013-05-21T07:30:00Z

Contaminated drinking water contributes to the deaths of some 750,000 children under the age of five every year due to diarrheal disease. A RAND project is using mobile phones to increase the sales and use of safe-water filters in Kenya.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/boards-compliance-and-reputation-diving-shallow-versus.html 2013-05-21T05:00:00Z 2013-05-21T05:00:00Z

Basic questions have been raised about the evolving role of boards, at a time when scandal and perceptions of corporate opportunism have resulted in a loss of public trust in the business community, writes Michael Greenberg.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/firefighting-aircraft-is-bigger-better.html 2013-05-20T16:00:00Z 2013-05-20T16:00:00Z

An aircraft's capacity and speed largely determine the rate at which water or retardant can be applied to a fire. Very large air tankers (VLATs) certainly have the capacity to apply large amounts of fluids to a fire, but because of the distances travelled they may not be able to get a second load very quickly.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/what-bangladesh-and-us-retailers-must-do-to-prevent.html 2013-05-17T10:00:00Z 2013-05-17T10:00:00Z

Perhaps most tragic of all are the disasters that are wholly preventable: the deaths, maimings, and crushed livelihoods that result from human callousness or indifference, writes Jonah Blank.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/paying-for-infrastructure-a-taxing-issue.html 2013-05-16T18:30:00Z 2013-05-16T18:30:00Z

If the user pays idea is worth saving, the United States needs a different calculation, writes Liisa Ecola. Some states are looking at mileage fees. With mileage fees, you pay based on the number of miles you drive, rather than the number of gallons of gas used.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/drones-are-useful-but-not-the-solution-or-the-problem.html 2013-05-16T11:23:00Z 2013-05-16T11:23:00Z

The effectiveness of our attacks, particularly by drones, has already decimated the al Qaeda hierarchy, writes Harold Brown. That achievement, together with the negative effect on Muslim publics of drone attacks, suggests that the rate of their usage could be moderated.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/turkey-and-intervention-in-syria.html 2013-05-15T18:00:00Z 2013-05-15T18:00:00Z

When President Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet in Washington on May 16, a long list of topics will likely be on the table. The big question, however, is whether anything substantive comes from their discussions of Syria.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/will-irans-real-reformists-please-stand-up.html 2013-05-15T12:00:00Z 2013-05-15T12:00:00Z

Neither Ahmadinejad nor Mashaei will be the political

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/learning-the-wrong-lessons-from-israels-intervention.html 2013-05-14T18:00:00Z 2013-05-14T18:00:00Z

The lesson here is not that countries should act for the sake of maintaining credibility but that they should act when they believe it serves their interests and might make a difference, writes Dalia Dassa Kaye.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/advancing-social-outcomes-private-investors-could-be.html 2013-05-14T12:00:00Z 2013-05-14T12:00:00Z

Under a Social Impact Bond, private investors — rather than the government — provide up-front funding for programs that tackle such challenges as recidivism or homelessness. If these programs succeed, the government pays some of the savings back to the investors.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/at-65-rand-continues-to-make-a-difference.html 2013-05-14T00:30:00Z 2013-05-14T00:30:00Z

To celebrate our first 60 years, we created '60 Ways RAND Has Made a Difference,' an online book to illustrate our most notable contributions. On our 65th birthday, we provide five of the most recent ways in which we at RAND are proud to have made a difference.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/crowd-sourcing-our-security.html 2013-05-13T22:50:00Z 2013-05-13T22:50:00Z

Involvement can transform members of the public from helpless bystanders into active participants in their own defense, thereby reducing fear and alarm, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/libya-needs-us-help-for-security.html 2013-05-13T15:00:00Z 2013-05-13T15:00:00Z

By adopting a laissez-faire policy toward security in Libya after the war, the United States and its allies who helped the Libyan rebels topple Gadhafi share in the responsibility for the country’s current predicament, writes Christopher Chivvis.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/h7n9-bird-flu-health-authorities-are-prepared-but.html 2013-05-10T20:00:00Z 2013-05-10T20:00:00Z

Having dealt with outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu and other communicable diseases like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and H1N1 swine flu in 2009, health officials are now far better prepared to detect new diseases early and react quickly to monitor and contain their spread.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/how-to-avert-a-sea-catastrophe-with-china.html 2013-05-09T12:00:00Z 2013-05-09T12:00:00Z

The United States should propose and pursue an East Asian maritime partnership, inviting to join all states that share its interest in assured access and passage, writes David Gompert.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/the-value-of-uncertainty-assessing-global-societal.html 2013-05-09T01:00:00Z 2013-05-09T01:00:00Z

When planning for the future, we should understand that the capacity to predict the future is rather limited and poor. Rather, an ability to anticipate plausible trends and their potential consequences is more realistic, writes Stijn Hoorens.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/pakistan-elections-more-continuity-than-change.html 2013-05-08T11:35:00Z 2013-05-08T11:35:00Z

This weekend's elections in Pakistan are more likely to yield continuity than change, an outcome that could offer some opportunities for enhanced engagement between Washington and Islamabad, a pair of RAND experts told reporters on April 6.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/for-rands-dobbins-a-new-diplomatic-mission.html 2013-05-07T13:00:00Z 2013-05-07T13:00:00Z

President Obama named Ambassador James F. Dobbins, a veteran diplomat and the current director of the RAND International Security and Defense Policy Center, as his special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.