2013

commentary

Big Tobacco vs. Tobacco Regulation and Control: An Even Match?

Anti-tobacco policies that have clear scientific support will strengthen the FDA's regulatory position. While the evidence base is solid in this area, it needs to be much stronger and broader if the TCA is going to have any lasting success against the industry.

William G. Shadel

commentary

Making Colleges More Affordable

President Obama has released a plan to make colleges more affordable for the middle class. The plan calls for linking federal student aid to college performance, capping student loans at 10% of income, and incentivizing innovative instructional approaches to cut costs and improve quality.

Rafiq Dossani

commentary

What Would al Qaeda's PowerPoints Say?

Over the last 12 years, the campaign against al Qaeda has dominated U.S. policy. From this perspective, al Qaeda has been a beneficiary of the Arab uprisings in general and of recent events in Egypt and Syria in particular. The longer the turmoil continues, the greater al Qaeda's possible gains, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.

Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins

commentary

A Measured Red-Line Response

It was a year ago that President Obama declared the use of chemical weapons by the Assad government to be a red line that would bring a swift and sure U.S. response. Not acting threatens the credibility not just of Obama's red-line threat, but of all U.S. threats going forward, writes Julie Taylor.

Julie E. Taylor

commentary

Protecting Young People from Harm: The Role of Age-Restricted Sales

Local authorities in the UK can benefit from a new toolkit developed by RAND Europe to measure the impacts and outcomes of local regulations designed to restrict sales of products harmful to children.

Emily Scraggs

blog

Dalia Dassa Kaye: Don't Cut Economic Aid to Egypt

It's pretty clear that the U.S. administration is frustrated with the way Egypt is going, says Dalia Dassa Kaye. There are few good choices. What is unfortunate is the development of cutting economic assistance to Egypt. That is sending exactly the wrong message to the Egyptian people and the broader region.

commentary

Calling for a Time-Out in the Army Intelligence Software Debate

The Army's Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) program has been getting much attention from Congress, and its future was the subject of a heated exchange between the Army's Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno and Representative Duncan Hunter in May.

Christopher G. Pernin, Isaac R. Porche III

commentary

Is Turkey Rethinking the Syrian Kurd Issue?

An autonomous Kurdish region that remains an integral part of Syria, even one dominated by the PYD (the Democratic Union, the largest and best organized Kurdish opposition party), would be far less dangerous than one dominated by forces affiliated with al Qaeda.

F. Stephen Larrabee

commentary

The Skinny on the Freshman 15

Colleges should acknowledge their responsibility not to put their students at risk for weight gain, obesity and the host of chronic diseases related to poor diets, writes Deborah Cohen. Students have to make their own food choices, but it's colleges who're setting the table.

Deborah A. Cohen

commentary

Reading the Tea Leaves in Iraq

The United States should not be too quick to write off Iraq based on recent violent trends, says Jason Campbell. After all, if there is anything that should be remembered from years past it's that the Iraqi populace can endure astonishing levels of violence and still maintain confidence in the survival of the state.

Jason H. Campbell @JasonHCampbell

commentary

Don't Buy the Cyberhype

Although the risk of a debilitating cyberattack is real, the perception of that risk is far greater than it actually is, writes Martin Libicki. In fact, a major cyberattack of the kind intelligence officials fear has not taken place in the 21 years since the Internet became accessible to the public.

Martin C. Libicki

blog

Things Could Get Worse in Egypt

As terrible as yesterday was in Egypt, things could get worse, says Jeffrey Martini, a RAND Middle East analyst. While the military-ruled government appears to be trying to break the neck of the Muslim Brotherhood, one shoe that hasn't dropped is the arrest of senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

blog

Early Planning Key to Effective Summer Learning Programs

RAND education experts Jennifer McCombs and Catherine Augustine hosted a news media conference call to discuss the best steps school districts can take to provide the most effective and rewarding summer learning programs.

q&a

Surprise: Q and A with Dave Baiocchi and D. Steven Fox

Dave Baiocchi, RAND senior engineer and professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and assistant policy analyst D. Steven Fox discuss their new study,

commentary

How Electronic Health Records Can Lead to Care Coordination

Inadequate care coordination is a major problem in health care delivery, but information technology is emerging as an important tool for enhancing coordination and, ultimately, improving the delivery of care, writes Robert Rudin.

Robert S. Rudin @rsrudin