The RAND Blog

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The Inevitable, Ongoing Failure of Israel's Gaza Strategy

The Hamas attack represented a spectacular failure of Israel's “mowing the grass” strategy in the Gaza Strip. If there's to be any hope of preventing the next war and the one after that, Israel will need to rebuild Gaza into something better than it was.

Raphael S. Cohen

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Educating Academics Will Ease UK Universities' Foreign Influence Crisis

Tackling China's quest for foreign technologies is tough. China exploits the very principles—openness, freedom, collaboration—that have fostered scientific breakthroughs to acquire foreign technologies. This makes it difficult to intervene without damaging these values in the process.

Fiona Quimbre @FQuimbre

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Bridging Tech and Humanity: The Role of Foundation Models in Reducing Civilian Harm

Foundation models can recognize patterns and make predictions like human brains; however, they lack the subjective experiences, contextual reasoning, creativity, and embodied grounding that characterize human intelligence and cognition. While foundation models hold massive potential to limit civilian harm, they must be used to supplement—not replace—human analysts.

Alisa Laufer, Lucy Shearer, et al.

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Generating Evidence Using the Delphi Method

The Delphi method, developed at RAND in the 1950s, is a group-based process for eliciting and aggregating opinion on a topic with a goal of exploring the existence of consensus among a diverse group of experts. It's become best practice for quantifying the results of group elicitation processes.

Dmitry Khodyakov

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Dismantling the Disinformation Business of Chinese Influence Operations

Some commercial actors benefit from involvement in Chinese influence operations. What steps could the U.S. government take to address this?

Bilva Chandra, Lev Navarre Chao

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A Case for Promoting Infrastructure Equity for the Olympics

In 2028, Los Angeles will host the Olympic Games for the third time. A critical factor for successfully hosting will be for planners to ask hard questions early, so the community can collaborate with the organizing committee, informing its response to critical themes such as homes, health, transport, jobs, society, and culture.

Cristian Cardenas

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Encouraging Consistency in National Security Transparency

The United States remains the leader in space in both national security and commercial capabilities. Greater transparency about existing on-orbit systems that are already detected by many is an important next step that could bolster U.S. credibility while also aiding deterrence.

Bruce McClintock @BHMcClintock

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Israel-Hamas War, Overdose Deaths, Striking Health Care Workers: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on historical context for the Israel-Hamas war, the link between education and fatal overdoses, why U.S. health care workers are striking, and more.

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Negotiating with Russia Is Still a Bad Idea

Since the very outset of Russia's war against Ukraine, there have been calls for the United States to negotiate with Russia. As the war has dragged on, the rationale for negotiations has morphed with each phase. Once you scratch below the surface, however, the case for negotiating with Russia quickly falls apart.

Raphael S. Cohen, Gian Gentile

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Nuclear Weapons in the North Korean World View

As Kim Jong-un's actions become more threatening, the risks of a catastrophic accidental nuclear war become more likely. The United States needs to make North Korean denuclearization a long-term objective but focus in the immediate future on limiting the size and danger of the North Korean nuclear weapon force.

Bruce W. Bennett @bwbennett

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China Doesn't Get It

Beijing likely believes it is in its interest to signal strength and show no intention of conceding on its claims or positions. But that does not mean that will work to further China's interests. In fact, the opposite is true, given that China's behavior is backfiring in spectacular fashion.

Jeffrey W. Hornung

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Why Health Care Workers Are Striking

More than 75,000 health care workers at Kaiser Permanente went on strike in early October. While it is unusual for American medical workers to go on strike, there is reason to believe Kaiser is on the leading edge of more labor unrest among care providers in this country.

Shira H. Fischer @ShiraFischer

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A Matter of Trust: More Delays for the VA's EHR System

Given how long it's taken to get five Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals online, the path to around 170 hospitals using the VA's new electronic health record system seems hard to envision. The next step won't even come until March. Until then, veterans just have to wait as fixes are made, money is spent, and patients are hopefully kept safe.

Shira H. Fischer @ShiraFischer

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Can Vietnam Help America Counter China?

The United States should not count on Vietnam to help counter China. But the fact that Hanoi chose to elevate the U.S.-Vietnam partnership is a strong indication of its growing concerns about Beijing's rising assertiveness. If China becomes more aggressive, it could create new opportunities for Hanoi to strengthen the U.S. relationship.

Derek Grossman @DerekJGrossman

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How to Build Stackable Credentials

Many states and colleges are investing to build out stackable credential pathways. It will be important to continue to build evidence on whether these programs are achieving their aims of improved economic circumstances for individuals and better addressing workforce needs.

Lindsay Daugherty, Peter Nguyen, et al.