The buildings and permanent installations necessary for the support, deployment, and operation of a nation's military constitute its defense infrastructure. RAND research has examined the structure and needs of U.S. and allied military facilities, provided recommendations concerning base realignment, and investigated ways to maximize the capabilities and utilization of existing resources and to define future infrastructure needs.
While the DoD is under pressure to reduce costs, meaningful savings from overseas posture changes would require choosing from a small set of options, each presenting benefit trade-offs. U.S. military presence contributes to assurance of allies, deterrence, contingency responsiveness, and security cooperation.
The Department of Defense constructs, operates, and maintains numerous facilities. This report shares RAND's description and assessment of the process used to obtain life-cycle cost-effective facilities and how it affects construction options.
Energy security strategies are needed because DoD installations rely on the U.S. commercial electricity grid which is vulnerable to disruption from natural hazards and actor-induced outages, such as physical or cyber attacks.
The evolution of the U.S. global defense posture from 1783 to the present offers important lessons for dealing with similar problems in the future.
Since World War II, the United States has relied on a global network of military bases and forces to protect its interests and those of its allies. But the international environment has changed greatly and economic concerns have risen, leading some to debate just what America's role should now be in the world.
Moore et al. provide a first-order analysis of Marine Corps purchases and Defense Logistics Agency purchases on behalf of the Marine Corps, revealing many indicators of opportunities and challenges for purchasing and supply management initiatives.
Air Force range managers schedule the infrastructure and airspace needed for realistic testing and training activities, which requires adequate information about the proposed maneuvers, the acceptable context, and understanding of the goals.
Passwords are proving less and less capable of protecting computer systems from abuse. Multifactor authentication (MFA) — which combines something you know (e.g., a PIN), something you have (e.g., a token), and/or something you are (e.g., a fingerprint) — is increasingly being required. This report investigates why organizations choose to adopt or not adopt MFA — and where they choose to use it.
The Secretary of Defense's plans to shift Navy aircraft carrier acquisition to every five years should have little impact on force structure and the industrial base in the next decade—but after that, the force structure shrinks, as does the chance of meeting goals for the number of deployed aircraft carriers.
The U.S. Air Force asked RAND Project AIR FORCE to perform a congressionally required assessment of contractor versus organic management of F-22 sustainment to determine the most cost-effective approach, the methodology for which is described here.
The UK Ministry of Defence's Fixed Wing Sector Strategy Board commissioned RAND Europe to assist in the development of a strategy and sustainment plan for the military fixed wing sector.
If the U.S. military increases its use of alternative fuels, there will be no direct benefit to the nation's armed forces. It makes more sense for the military to direct its efforts toward using energy more efficiently.
The lack of a comprehensive tool to assess a country's defense sector and its ability to counter a range of internal security threats led to the development of the Defense Sector Assessment Rating Tool, which can be customized for a variety of goals.
Develops a framework for measuring the dependability of naval networks and describes a software tool for modeling the impact that individual network components have on overall mission operational availability.
Identifies and examines sources of potential conflicts among acquisition executives and chief information officers that may arise from differences in the large and complex body of Defense Department policy that implements U.S. law.
The U.S. Army needs to improve its ability to command and control joint, interagency, and multinational forces in diverse environments, and to prepare Army headquarters to perform as components of, or headquarters for, joint task forces.
Consideration of a range of policy and implementation recommendations could permit the development of a way to certify and accredit aggregated U.S. Department of Defense information systems that meets federal requirements and protects networks.
Examines the experiences of Army installations with sustainability planning, and recommends ways to help foster Armywide development and implementation of installation sustainability plans, which address mission, community, and environmental issues.
Assesses the progress of the Afghan National Army in the areas of recruitment, training, facilities, and operational capability and concludes that coalition forces will be needed to assist in the country for the foreseeable future.
Testimony presented before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on May 5, 2009.
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