National Security

CONGRESSIONAL NEWSLETTER

This monthly bulletin summarizes RAND national security publications released in the last month. Click on any link to view the full report. To request free copies of RAND publications, write to ocr@rand.org.

Past issues of this bulletin can be viewed in the archive section of RAND's Web site for Congress.

November 2003

New Releases

1. Reports

THE ACQUISITION OF DRUGS AND BIOLOGICS FOR CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE INTERACTIONS WITH THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION

Authors: Richard A. Rettig and Jennifer Brower, with Orlie Yaniv

The 1990-1991 Gulf War made clear the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD's) need to effectively acquire drugs and biologics, mainly vaccines, as American troops faced the real threat of chemical and biological warfare (CBW) agents being used in combat. More than a decade after the war, DoD still experiences acute obstacles in obtaining CBW defense supplies. In response, the authors look at the department's relationship with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and suggest ways to improve it through such means as centralizing the department's acquisition authority and further educating DoD personnel.

ATTRACTING "CUTTING-EDGE" SKILLS THROUGH RESERVE COMPONENT PARTICIPATION

Authors: Gregory F. Treverton, David Oaks, Lynn Scott, Justin L. Adams

People with complex, hard-to-train skills, such as information technology specialists, linguists, or scientists, are difficult for the military to attract and retain. This report examines five new ideas for attracting such people into the Reserve Component and suggests ways in which the ideas could be pilot-tested.

COMPETITION AND INNOVATION IN THE U.S. FIXED-WING MILITARY-AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

Authors: John Birkler, Anthony G. Bower, Jeffrey A. Drezner, Gordon Lee, Mark Lorell, Giles K. Smith

Responds to the Senate's concerns that further consolidation in the military-aircraft industry from its current three prime contractors would pose risks to innovation and cost through limited or no competition in contracting for military aircraft and related weapon systems for the Defense Department. Describes that industry, evaluates what is required to maintain the industry at a high level of innovation, assesses industry's prospects for innovation and competition, and identifies policy options open to the DoD.

THE COUNTERTERROR COALITIONS COOPERATION WITH EUROPE, NATO, AND THE EUROPEAN UNION

Author: Nora Bensahel

The long-term success of the counterterror campaign will depend on concerted cooperation from European states, but a key question is the extent to which that cooperation should be pursued through European multilateral institutions. This study argues that the United States should pursue military and intelligence cooperation on a bilateral basis, and it should increasingly pursue financial and law enforcement cooperation on a multilateral basis. The United States should adopt a nuanced strategy in its counterterror relations with Europe.

A FRAMEWORK FOR MODERNIZATION WITHIN THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

Authors: Glenn A. Kent and David Ochmanek

The report lays out a framework for modernizing that the Air Force can use to develop new operational concepts in the context of joint-service requirements, to organize analyses for assessing capabilities, and to effectively advocate Air Force programs to "deciders" in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Congress. The work builds on earlier work on a strategies-to-tasks framework, concept development, and up-front planning.

THE U.S. COMBAT AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY, 1909-2000 STRUCTURE, COMPETITION, INNOVATION

Author: Mark A. Lorell

Drawing on primary and secondary sources on the aircraft industry, this report provides a brief survey of industry structure, innovation, and competition in the U.S. fixed-wing combat aircraft industry from its earliest days to the present. It supports a much larger research effort examining the future of the structure, innovation, and competition of the U.S. military aircraft industrial base that responds to congressional concerns about that future.

VERTICAL ENVELOPMENT AND THE FUTURE TRANSPORT ROTORCRAFT OPERATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE OBJECTIVE FORCE

Authors: Jon G. Grossman, David Rubenson, William Sollfrey, Brett Steele

The Future Transport Rotorcraft (FTR) is a proposed heavy-lift helicopter capable of transporting the Army's Future Combat System (FCS) family of combat vehicles. The authors review RAND Arroyo Center's analysis of the engineering, operational, and survivability risks and uncertainties associated with the FTR.

2. Documented Briefings

ALTERNATIVE FUTURES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR ARMY MODERNIZATION

Authors: John Gordon IV and Brian Nichiporuk

It is useful for the Army to understand the implications that several "alternative futures" might have for its long-term force structure and modernization plans. Having developed several plausible alternative futures (looking out roughly 25 years), the authors describe each one's possible implications for the Army's likely missions and the forces required for those missions, discussing the impact on Army modernization plans.

THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM AN EARLY LOOK AT IMPLICATIONS FOR THE U.S. ARMY

Author: Bruce Nardulli

When the war on terrorism became the top U.S. priority, how did this affect the Army's other longstanding commitments? How should the Army adjust to the altered landscape? The author here summarizes the thoughts of a group of RAND Arroyo Center researchers who found five main demands that the Army must be able to meet: increased deployments, a broader range of capabilities, greater use of the transformation process to meet these goals, high demand for scarce skills, and a more flexible overseas basing structure.

3. Research Brief

STRATEGIES FOR AN EXPEDITIONARY ARMY

Authors: Eric Peltz, John M. Halliday, Steven L. Hartman

To be a strategically responsive force, the Army must be able to rapidly move or project forces with sufficient power to execute a broad spectrum of missions. This brief examines the Army's strategies for transforming its combat service support (CSS) activities in support of this power projection goal. The authors aim to provide a common understanding of the strategies the Army is using to improve power projection capability from a CSS perspective and to spur additional application of these strategies.

4. Testimony

NEXT STEPS IN IRAQ AND BEYOND

Author: James Dobbins

Testimony presented before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, on Tuesday, September 23, 2003.

5. Commentary

The following is a list of national security related opinion pieces that RAND researchers have contributed to newspapers in the past month. To retrieve them, please visit RAND's Commentary page.

BREACH OF AIRLINE SECURITY IS NOTHING TO PANIC ABOUT

Author: Brian Michael Jenkins (Los Angeles Times)

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

Author: Ralph Masi (Washington Times)

TERRORISM IN INDIA IS NOT JUST AN INTERNAL THREAT

Author: Rollie Lal (Financial Times)

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