Welcome to ISE
RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment (ISE) provides effective solutions and insights to decisionmakers in the public and private sectors on the challenges of developing, managing, and protecting energy, transportation, water, communications, and other infrastructure as well as the safety and security of individuals and communities. ISE studies are coordinated through four programs: Environment, Energy & Economic Development; Homeland Security & Defense; Safety & Justice; and Transportation, Space, & Technology.
ISE is known for its:
- Objective, innovative approaches to problem solving
- Impartial, expert analysis of complex—and sometimes controversial—policy issues
- Clearly communicated findings and recommendations subject to rigorous quality assurance
- Capabilities that cut across traditional policy boundaries and span multiple economic sectors
Featured Research
Providing Body Armor to All U.S. Police Officers Is Worth the Cost — Aug. 31, 2010
The additional cost of providing body armor to all law enforcement officers in the United States is more than justified compared to the savings that would be created by fewer serious injuries and officer deaths.
News Release 
Read Article at informaworld.com
Measuring the Effectiveness of Border Security Between Ports-of-Entry — Jul. 8, 2010
Focusing on three missions—illegal drug control, counterterrorism, and illegal migration—this report recommends ways to measure performance of U.S. border-security efforts in terms of interdiction, deterrence, and exploiting networked intelligence.
Full Document
Redesigning the International Approach to Climate Change — Jul. 1, 2010
Limiting climate change requires a revolution in the way the global economy generates and consumes energy. It is becoming increasingly clear that the current diplomatic approach should be redesigned to meet this immense political, technical, and social challenge, writes Robert J. Lempert.
Commentary
Evaluating the Reliability of Emergency Response Systems for Large-Scale Incident Operations — Jun. 29, 2010
This report describes a method for modeling an emergency response system, identifying how individual parts of the system might fail, and assessing the likelihood of each failure and the severity of its effects on the overall response effort.
Full Document
Community-Based Violence Prevention: An Assessment of Pittsburgh's One Vision One Life Program — Jun. 3, 2010
In 2006, more than 6 million individuals were victimized by violent crimes. The extent of violence and its impact highlight a critical need to develop and implement effective programs to reduce violence and victimization, and to conduct critical evaluations to inform other violence-reduction programs.
Full DocumentResearch Brief
EPA Program Sought to Improve Environmental Performance of Public and Private Sectors — May 24, 2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently ended a voluntary national program that encouraged facilities to improve all aspects of their environmental performance. The significant environmental challenges that the United States faces require it to continue to seek complements to traditional regulatory approaches.
Full Document
Enforcing Immigration Law at the State and Local Levels: A Public Policy Dilemma — Apr. 29, 2010
Encouraging state and local law enforcement agencies to help enforce federal immigration laws could help identify out-of-status immigrants eligible for deportation, but these efforts come with concerns about the potential for racial profiling, strained community relations, and improper resource allocation.
Full DocumentNews Release
What Cost-of-Crime Research Can Tell Us About Investing in Police — Mar. 16, 2010
Existing high-quality research on the costs of crime and the effectiveness of police—often buried in journals targeted to academics rather than policymakers—demonstrates that public investment in police can generate substantial social returns.
Full DocumentNews Release
National Energy Technology Laboratory Releases the Calculating Uncertainty in Biomass Emissions (CUBE) Model Developed by RAND — Mar. 1, 2010
CUBE 1.0 allows users to explore how estimates of net greenhouse gas emissions of biomass feedstocks change with varying assumptions about uncertainty in scientific data, future agricultural production changes, and development of the biomass resource base.
Read More
What Police Departments Can Teach Us About IT, Organization, and Productivity in the Public Sector — Jan. 29, 2010
Police department data from 1987 to 2003 shows that while increases in information technology are not associated with increased productivity, IT investments can improve productivity when they are complemented with particular organizational and management practices.
Full Document
News and Publications Archive »
Featured Media & Events
Translating Research into Action: From Recovery to Renaissance — Aug. 25-27, 2010
On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, RAND Gulf States in partnership with LANO and the Allstate Foundation invites Louisiana's leaders to discuss the crucial role of nonprofits in rebuilding after the storm.
Learn MoreNews Release
Marijuana Legalization: Projected Revenues, Costs, and Effects on Price and Use in California — Jul. 12, 2010
A voter initiative to legalize marijuana has qualified for the November 2010 ballot in California. In this July 12, 2010, Congressional Briefing, the codirector of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center discusses the projected revenues, costs, and effects on price and use that may come from legalizing, regulating, and taxing marijuana in California.
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