RAND researchers examine military and national security issues across a broad spectrum — from political dissent and military training to tactical operations and reconstruction efforts — and take a long-term, global perspective. Terrorism, types of warfare, and international intervention are among the many topics RAND explores.
Report
This book reviews identified shortfalls in the Israeli Defense Forces' part in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, comments on sources of difficulties, and analyzes what lessons the conflict offers the U.S. military.
Report
Explores and compares how members of the US military, Philippine military and police, and populace of Mindanao understand Islamic beliefs and values.
Report
Planning for, assessing, and enhancing the effectiveness of missions to build health capacity in partner nations -- how U.S. military forces can assist in this important effort.
Commentary
The most likely outcome, in my opinion, may be no outcome at all, but instead a civil war lasting years. The conflict has become an existential struggle for its participants—their survival is at stake, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.
Report
Public support for al-Qa'ida's transnational jihadist movement, the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey, and the Maoist insurgency in Nepal is examined using a conceptual model that draws on social science and social movement theory.
Report
In the absence of official guidance on planning for security cooperation with foreign militaries, this report presents best practices for U.S. Air Force planners on how to develop, resource, execute, and assess country plans.
Journal Article
The United States is rapidly approaching a critical juncture in its policy towards Syria.
Report
The U.S. and its European allies have a strong interest in Assad's fall, largely due to that regime's alignment with Iran. Syria provides the main bridge by which Iran is able to support Hezbollah and Hamas, influence Lebanon, outflank its Sunni Gulf adversaries and threaten Israel.
Blog
The 2012 London Olympic Games is not the first time private firms have failed to deliver what they promised to Olympic Games organizers—nor will it be the last.
Commentary
Despite the pressure to do something, a realistic military option with a prospect of having a significant positive impact on the crisis has yet to emerge with Syria, writes Christopher Chivvis.
Commentary
Assuming Assad's regime eventually collapses, a robust al Qaeda presence will undermine transition efforts and pose a major threat to regional stability, writes Seth Jones.
Commentary
Every possible effort toward peaceful resolution and proliferation avoidance, even to the extent of offering safe passage and immunity to reprehensible characters in order to buy the safe transfer and control of such materials, is worth consideration, write James T. Quinlivan and Bruce W. Bennett.
Commentary
While it is quite clear that attacking an event as internationally iconic as the Olympics would be attractive to modern terrorist groups with global aspirations, their ability to do so successfully and shift focus and attention from the competition and achievements of the Games to the terrorist groups' agendas is far less certain, writes Brian Jackson.
Report
This paper proposes a paradigm shift in how military intelligence is fused. The concept, behavioral intelligence analysis, provides a more complete picture of the complex counterinsurgency environment.
Commentary
A new audit of Iraq reconstruction spending underlines the fact that effective help for a nation in conflict, or a conflict winding down, isn't merely a question of resources. It also requires a deployable infrastructure to manage the spending, writes Charles Ries.
Report
Today, as withdrawal looms, the United States and its partners should work with the Afghans to define what sort of police development can be realistically envisioned for Afghanistan, and devote resources and assistance to developing that into the future.
Commentary
In the long run, a more robust Indian military role in Afghanistan represents one of the best ways to advance New Delhi's strategic interests while fostering Kabul's continued security and economic development after US and NATO forces begin to withdraw in 2014, write Larry Hanauer and Peter Chalk.
Report
The United States confronts a more diverse terrorist threat in 2012 than it has in the past. Al Qaeda has exploited the turmoil created by the Arab uprisings to make tactical advances and open new fronts. In addition, several incidents in the past year suggest a resurgence of Iranian-sponsored terrorism.
Multimedia
On June 19, 2012, Alireza Nader, a senior international policy analyst and Iran expert at RAND, discussed Iran's internal political dynamics and U.S. economic, political, and military options in preventing a nuclear-armed Iran.
Report
The only single-volume work offering a full account of the Navy and Marine Corps actions in the Philippines during World War II, providing never-before-published details about the fighting based on American and newly discovered Japanese sources.
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