Jonathan P. Wong

Twenty Years After the Iraq War, a Q&A with RAND Experts

On the 20th anniversary of the war in Iraq, RAND experts discussed what the war means for the people of Iraq and the veterans who fought there, what lessons the U.S. military learned (or did not learn), and what effect it has had on the balance of power in the Middle East and the global reputation of the United States.

Bad Idea: Looking for Easy Solutions for PPBE Reform

The means by which the Department of Defense decides how to spend its budget has long been criticized as needlessly complex and incapable of helping policymakers choose among investments to meet strategic goals. Seeking solutions, Congress created the Commission on PPBE Reform in the 2022 defense policy bill. But the reforms the system needs may not be as obvious as they seem.

A Tradition of Service: Q&A with Two Veterans

Before they became RAND researchers, Jonathan Wong and Joslyn Fleming served as U.S. Marines. In this interview, they discuss what made them want to join the service, what led them to research, and how their military experience guides the work they do at RAND.

The Guilt I Carry Over 9/11 Drives Me to Help Others

RAND policy researcher and U.S. military veteran Jonathan Wong reflects on how the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have influenced how he has lived his life since that day.

Bad Idea: Overly Focusing on Development and Acquisition Speed

The Pentagon has in recent years turned its attention to the need for speed in weapons system development and acquisition. While shortening the timeline for program development and fielding is important for Defense Department acquisition leaders, overly prioritizing speed can lead to issues with program management, sustainment, and other areas.

Book Review: 'The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare' by Christian Brose

As the Pentagon and commercial technologists continue to explore the potential of commercial technologies for the military and work towards greater adoption, they may wish to focus not only on lowering bureaucratic barriers but also on managing expectations about what technologies will be most beneficial and how they will be used.

Indications of Institutional Inertia: The FY2021 USMC Budget

The Grim Reaper is a 700-foot-tall series of hills that Marine Corps recruits must summit to graduate from boot camp. As the Marine Corps attempts to transform from a second land army and counterinsurgency force to operate within contested maritime spaces, its recent budget request suggests that it will need to climb its own Grim Reaper to get there.

Book Review: 'The Heart of War—Misadventures in the Pentagon' by Kathleen McInnis

Both Washington insiders and the general public may be inspired by Kathleen McCinnis's The Heart of War. The novel prompts readers to think more realistically about the Pentagon and its role in policymaking.

The Pentagon's New Chief Innovation Officer Should Tread Lightly

The innovation efforts taking place in the Department of Defense are exciting and have much potential. But installing a chief innovation officer with centralized authority who may become just another bureaucratic player among many could spoil those efforts.

In Defense of Defense Analysis

Rather than characterize Robert McNamara's legacy as one of inefficiency, his economic, quantitative analysis of military problems should be portrayed as an innovative, if flawed, first adoption of more sophisticated methods for defense analysis.

Don't Learn the Wrong Lessons from Rapid Acquisition

Rapid acquisition practices that worked during recent wars may not easily translate to peacetime endeavors. Enthusiasm for rapid acquisition must be tempered by an understanding of the circumstances that made it work and the downsides that were accepted in wartime.

Rethinking U.S. Force Planning

While the renewed interest in crisis response forces by the military services is welcome in these times of uncertainty, forces that are permanently assigned to a geographic combatant command and based in a region continue to offer distinct benefits. RAND research has shown that an overseas presence enhances contingency responsiveness in most cases.

Visualization

Logic Model for Non-Lethal Weapons in the U.S. Department of Defense

This logic model is intended to help characterize the impact of Non-Lethal Weapons (NLWs) within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and is based on a RAND project that assessed the impact of diverse Intermediate Force Capabilities (IFCs).

Report

Leveraging Commercial Space Services: Opportunities and Risks for the Department of the Air Force

RAND researchers evaluated two commercial space markets to understand opportunities, challenges, and risks that the Department of the Air Force could encounter when making decisions to invest in commercial space capabilities.

Report

Military-to-Civilian Occupational Matching: Using the O*NET to Provide Match Recommendations for the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force

The authors employ a unique method for military-to-civilian occupational matching by comparing survey data collected from service members in selected military occupations with similar data previously collected for civilian occupations.

Research Brief

Fostering Innovation in Military Technology: Strengthening DoD's Commercial Technology Pipeline

RAND researchers examined how well the Department of Defense is identifying, developing, and transitioning innovative commercial technologies from the private sector to the military and how the defense ecosystem can better support this process.

Report

Strengthening the Defense Innovation Ecosystem

The Department of Defense can more effectively harness commercially developed technologies through policies that incentivize and improve coordination and collaboration between defense innovation organizations and traditional acquisition stakeholders.

Report

New Directions for Projecting Land Power in the Indo-Pacific: Contexts, Constraints, and Concepts

This report seeks to address how the U.S. Army can most effectively project and employ land power in the Indo-Pacific, during competition and conflict, with a focus on scenarios involving China.

Report

Using Metrics to Understand the Performance of the Adaptive Acquisition Framework

The authors of this report identify initial metrics that the U.S. Department of Defense can use to assess whether pathways in the Adaptive Acquisition Framework are achieving their goals.

Research Brief

Evaluating the Use of Non-Lethal Weapons in Operational Environments

This brief summarizes a RAND-developed methodology to evaluate the impact of non-lethal weapons in a way that better informs Department of Defense decisions about their development, integration into military forces, and use in diverse contexts.

Report

Improving Defense Acquisition: Insights from Three Decades of RAND Research

In this report, RAND researchers describe overarching trends that affect the defense acquisition system, outline challenges in the defense acquisition process, and suggest improvements that might help address those challenges.

Report

How to Effectively Assess the Impact of Non-Lethal Weapons as Intermediate Force Capabilities

This report describes how to evaluate the impact of non-lethal weapons (NLWs). Characterizing the contribution of NLWs to strategic goals provides insights into their effective integration throughout U.S. Department of Defense operations.

Report

Equipping the 21st Century Marine Corps: Alternative Equipping Strategies for Task-Organized Units

Provisional unit equipping differs from the traditional way the Marine Corps equips forces, which places a burden on the logistics enterprise. The totality of the problem demands a multipronged approach as the best course of action.

Report

Prototyping Using Other Transactions: Case Studies for the Acquisition Community

Through literature reviews, interviews, and case studies, researchers reviewed recent U.S. Air Force experience in using other transactions for prototype projects (OTs), identifying lessons for acquisition professionals and improvements for use.

Report

Designing a Capability Development Framework for Home Affairs

Australia's Department of Home Affairs is seeking to establish an auditable, transparent and evidence-based approach to capability lifecycle management. The authors of this report describe a principles-based model to meet the department's needs.

Report

Methodology for Translating Enlisted Veterans' Nontechnical Skills into Civilian Employers' Terms

Describes a methodology for describing the nontechnical skills developed through military training, education, and on-the-job experiences in ways that can help veterans explain to civilian employers the full value they bring to organizations.

Tool

What Veterans Bring to Civilian Workplaces: A Prototype Toolkit for Helping Veterans Communicate to Private-Sector Employers About the Nontechnical Skills Developed in the Military

Presents a prototype toolkit that describes the nontechnical skills developed through military training, education, and on-the-job experiences, to help veterans communicate about the value they can bring to civilian workplaces.

Tool

What Veterans Bring to Civilian Workplaces: A Prototype Toolkit for Helping Private-Sector Employers Understand the Nontechnical Skills Developed in the Military

Presents a prototype toolkit that describes the nontechnical skills developed through military training, education, and on-the-job experiences, to help civilian employers understand the full value veterans can bring to their organizations.

Report

Enabling the Global Response Force: Access Strategies for the 82nd Airborne Division

The Global Response Force is built for rapid response to unforeseen operations. This study recommends specific GRF access strategies for each geographic combatant command given constraints in aircraft, intermediate staging bases, and other factors.

Dissertation

Balancing Immediate and Long-Term Defense Investments

Examines how the US Department of Defense acquisition bureaucracy responds to unforeseen conflicts and adversaries by making immediate procurement investments.

Report

Implications of Integrating Women into the Marine Corps Infantry

This study for the U.S. Marine Corps reviews the history of the integration of women into the U.S. military and explores the role of cohesion, the gender integration of foreign militaries and domestic police and fire departments, and potential costs.

Research Brief

Implications of Integrating Women into USMC Infantry

The Marine Corps Combat Development Command asked RAND to study the integration of women into infantry combat roles. Researchers reviewed the literature, conducted interviews, estimated costs, and developed an approach for monitoring integration.

Infographic

Translating Veterans' Training into Civilian Job Skills

Military forces are trained in both technical specialties and "soft" skills that are vital to success in the civilian sector. This infographic translates examples of soft skills taught in the military into essential civilian workforce competencies.

Report

Active Component Responsibility in Reserve Component Pre- and Postmobilization Training

This report examines historical readiness problems for the Army reserve component and ways in which Congress and the Army have addressed these, including active component support to RC units, and recommends changes to support future RC training.

Report

Assessing Conventional Army Demands and Requirements for Ultra-Light Tactical Mobility

The Army often uses vehicles informally classified as ultra-light tactical mobility (UTM). This report assesses the demands, requirements, current ad hoc capabilities, and key considerations for developing and sustaining established Army UTM fleets.