Molly Dunigan is the director of the Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program within RAND Arroyo Center. She is also a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, and a senior lecturer in Carnegie Mellon University's Institute for Politics and Strategy. Her research interests focus on military privatization, outsourcing, operational contract support, strategic competition, civil–military relations, civilian deployment, counterinsurgency, and maritime security. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a U.S. Institute of Peace Jennings Randolph Peace Fellowship, a U.S. State Department Foreign Language Areas Studies Fellowship, and an International Studies Association Catalytic Research Grant. Prominent among Dunigan's published work are Victory for Hire: Private Security Companies' Impact on Military Effectiveness (Stanford University Press, 2011), The Markets for Force: Privatization of Security Across World Regions (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), and a number of RAND reports on various personnel and strategy-related issues. An internationally recognized expert on private security contracting, Dunigan's work on this topic has been cited in USA Today, Time Magazine, Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, and National Public Radio. Dunigan's publications have been favorably reviewed in Military Review, The Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, The Journal of Military History, Survival, Parameters, and The Boston Globe, and her op-eds have appeared in The National Interest, USA Today, The Hill, U.S. News & World Report, and The Christian Science Monitor. Dunigan received her Ph.D. in government from Cornell University.
Selected Publications
Dunigan, Molly, Kristie L. Gore, Katherine L. Kidder, Michael Schwille, Samantha Cherney, and James Sladden, Civilian Post-Deployment Reintegration: A Review and Analysis of Practices Across U.S. Federal Agencies, RAND Corporation (RR-3220), 2020
Dunigan, Molly, Ryan Andrew Brown, Samantha Cherney, Maria DeYoreo, Katherine C. Hastings, Jennifer Lamping Lewis, Christina Panis, Leslie Adrienne Payne, Michael Schwille, and Lauren Skrabala, Army Expeditionary Civilian Demand: Forecasting Future Requirements for Civilian Deployments, RAND Corporation (RR-2854), 2019
Dunigan, Molly, Michael Schwille, Samantha Cherney, Katherine C. Hastings, Brian Nichiporuk, and Peter Schirmer, Human Capital Needs for the Department of Defense Operational Contract Support Planning and Integration Workforce, RAND Corporation (RR-1847), 2017
Moore, Nancy Young, Molly Dunigan, Frank Camm, Samantha Cherney, Clifford A. Grammich, Judith D. Mele, Evan D. Peet, and Anita Szafran, A Review of Alternative Methods to Inventory Contracted Services in the Department of Defense, RAND Corporation (RR-1704), 2017
Dunigan, Molly, Susan M. Sohler Everingham, Todd Nichols, Michael Schwille, and Susanne Sondergaard, Expeditionary Civilians: Creating a Viable Practice of Department of Defense Civilian Deployment, RAND Corporation (RR-975), 2016
Molly Dunigan, The Markets for Force: Privatization of Security Across World Regions, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015
Dunigan, Molly, Carrie M. Farmer, Rachel M. Burns, Alison Hawks, and Claude Messan Setodji, Out of the Shadows: The Health and Well-Being of Private Contractors Working in Conflict Environments, RAND Corporation (RR-420), 2013
Molly Dunigan, Victory For Hire: Private Security Companies' Impact on Military Effectiveness, Stanford University Press, 2011