Bruce W. Bennett is an adjunct international/defense researcher at RAND and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He works primarily on research topics such as strategy, force planning, and counterproliferation within the RAND International Security and Defense Policy Center.
Bennett's work applies wargaming, risk management, deterrence-based strategy, competitive strategies, and military simulation and analysis. He specializes in “asymmetric threats” such as weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and how to counter those threats with new strategies, operational concepts, and technologies. He is an expert in Northeast Asian military issues, having visited the region over 120 times and written much about Korean security issues. He has also done work on the Persian/Arab Gulf region.
His Northeast Asian research has addressed issues such as future ROK military force requirements, understanding and shaping the ongoing Korean nuclear weapon crisis, Korean unification, the Korean military balance, counters to North Korean chemical and biological weapon threats in Korea and Japan, potential Chinese intervention in Korean contingencies, changes in the Northeast Asia security environment, and deterrence of nuclear threats (including strengthening the U.S. nuclear umbrella). He has worked with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, U.S. Forces Korea and Japan, the U.S. Pacific Command and Central Command, the ROK and Japanese militaries, and the ROK National Assembly.
Bennett received his Ph.D. in policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School and his B.S. in economics from the California Institute of Technology.
Selected Publications
Bennett, Bruce W., Kang Choi, Myong-Hyun Go, Bruce E. Bechtol, Jr., Jiyoung Park, Bruce Klingner, and Du-Hyeogn Cha, Countering the Risks of North Korean Nuclear Weapons, RAND Corporation (PE-A1015-1), 2021
Bennett, Bruce W., Alternative Paths to Korean Unification, RAND Corporation (RR-2808-KOF), 2018
Bruce W. Bennett, "On US Preparedness for Limited Nuclear War," in Larsen and Kartchner, On Limited Nuclear War in the 21st Century, Stanford University Press, 2014
Bennett, Bruce W., Preparing for the Possibility of a North Korean Collapse, RAND Corporation (RR-331-SRF), 2013
Bruce W. Bennett, "Deterring North Korea from Using WMD in Future Conflicts and Crises," Strategic Studies Quarterly, 6(4), 2012
Bruce W. Bennett and Jennifer Lind, "The Collapse of North Korea: Military Missions and Requirements," International Security, 36(2), 2011
Bennett, Bruce W., A Brief Analysis of the Republic of Korea’s Defense Reform Plan, RAND Corporation (OP-165-OSD), 2006
Bennett, Bruce W., Kang Choi, Gregory S. Jones, Du-Hyeogn Cha, Jiyoung Park, Scott W. Harold, Myong-Hyun Go, and Yun Kang, Characterizing the Risks of North Korean Chemical and Biological Weapons, Electromagnetic Pulse, and Cyber Threats, RAND Corporation (RR-A2026-1), 2022