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Homeland Security

Commentary

A New Framework for Evaluating Counter Violent Extremism Projects

Gathering evidence in the area of counter violent extremism (CVE) is vital, given the increasing role for CVE interventions in the political and security environment. Evaluations of these interventions can play a role in growing this knowledge, by helping the CVE field itself to develop.

Feb 15, 2019
Commentary

The U.S. Withdrawal from Syria Is an Opportunity for China

The U.S. withdrawal from Syria could allow Beijing to further assert its role as a key international partner in Syria and, by extension, further its interests in the Middle East. The extent of Sino-Syrian cooperation remains ambiguous but it has reportedly deepened, with China supplying intelligence personnel, strategic advisors, and special forces.

Feb 15, 2019
Research Brief

How to Strengthen Terrorism Prevention Efforts

Shortfalls in national terrorism prevention efforts have come not only from limited programmatic focus and resource investment, but also from critics seeking to constrain or halt such efforts. The most effective path for the U.S. government would be to support state, local, nongovernmental, and private terrorism prevention efforts rather than building capabilities itself.

Feb 14, 2019
Report

Report

Practical Terrorism Prevention: Executive Summary

Researchers examined past U.S. countering violent extremism and terrorism prevention efforts and explored options to strengthen them. This document summarizes findings from the main report.

Feb 14, 2019
Report

Report

Practical Terrorism Prevention: Reexamining U.S. National Approaches to Addressing the Threat of Ideologically Motivated Violence

Researchers examined past U.S. countering violent extremism and terrorism prevention efforts and explored options to strengthen them. They found that current capabilities are relatively limited and that future efforts must build trust to succeed.

Feb 14, 2019
Commentary

Terrorists on the Border and Government Secrecy

Detailed information on how many would-be terrorists may have sought to cross the southern border is being withheld on the grounds that it is sensitive. The refusal of officials to offer a fuller explanation of the numbers illustrates how the continued expansion of secrecy in government is damaging the ability of the public to assess the risk and evaluate the response.

Feb 13, 2019
Commentary

The Wall Is Not the Only Answer

The president and Congress have just days to negotiate an agreement over border security, or the government may shut down once again. Until a bipartisan effort is made to reform U.S. immigration laws, policy options to address the incentives that cause people to risk their lives to come to the border to claim asylum will continue to be limited.

Feb 8, 2019
Blog

State of the Union: Insights from RAND

To shed light on a wide range of topics that figured in President Trump's second State of the Union address, we've rounded up insights from some of RAND's objective and nonpartisan research, analysis, and expertise.

Feb 6, 2019
Commentary

Developing an Objective, Repeatable Scoring System for a Vulnerability Equities Process

If governments seek to create an objective framework for decision making about whether or when to disclose software vulnerabilities, what might that look like? What questions should be included, how should they influence the outcome and how can one interpret the results?

Feb 5, 2019
Commentary

Shutdown Could Provide Opening for Adversaries to Corrupt Those Protecting the U.S. Homeland

Every day that the government shutdown continues prolongs the financial hardship for those on the front lines protecting the United States and gives cartels and transnational criminal organizations an opening to try to corrupt the DHS ranks. As negotiations continue to stall, the Trump administration and Congress should consider taking steps to guard against this vulnerability.

Jan 22, 2019
Commentary

Helping Lebanon Succeed Is More Than About Countering Iran

As tensions increase on the Israeli-Lebanese border the possibility is growing that a confrontation with Iran may move from Syria to Lebanon. For the United States, turning its back on this small but strategically critical country and conflating U.S. interests in Lebanon solely with countering Iran could be short-sighted, and a missed opportunity at a time when the region has few.

Jan 16, 2019
Commentary

Don't Lose Sight of the Nameless Government Workers

There are 800,000 government employees that aren't being paid during the partial U.S. government shutdown. These workers play a critical role in making America safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.

Jan 14, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Examining the Effectiveness of Risk Elicitations: Comparing a Deliberative Risk Ranking to a Nationally Representative Survey on Homeland Security Risk

This paper compares the Deliberative Method for Ranking Risks to results from a nationally representative survey. We find evidence that the Deliberative Method for Ranking Risks produces more informed rankings with less evidence of bias.

Jan 11, 2019
Commentary

Confusion Over the U.S. Withdrawal from Syria

Washington's strategy in Syria has been to impose costs on the Syrian government by diplomatic ostracism and economic sanctions. This punitive approach is morally satisfying and politically expedient, but as a practical matter it just helps perpetuate the conflict and sustain Assad's dependency on Iran.

Jan 9, 2019
Commentary

What Border Walls Can and Cannot Accomplish

States have been building walls since ancient times. Some were arguably quite successful, others less so. At the core of prudent policy lies a basic question: What can walls realistically accomplish?

Jan 8, 2019
Commentary

Withdrawing from Syria Leaves a Vacuum That Iran Will Fill

President Trump's decision to withdraw American troops from Syria may be unintentionally signaling that the United States is unwilling to compete in critical geopolitical hotspots. Such a message could embolden powerful states—including Iran—to expand their presence.

Jan 8, 2019
Periodical

Periodical

RAND Review: January-February 2019

This issue spotlights (1) research on how faith-based organizations promote health and well-being in underserved communities and (2) the Pardee RAND Graduate School's new approach to policy and training the next generation of policy experts.

Jan 7, 2019
Report

Report

Organizational Dynamics Between the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Manpower and Reserve Affairs (SAF/MR) and the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel, and Services (AF/A1)

This Perspective offers recommendations on how the relationship between the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Manpower and Reserve Affairs and the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel, and Services might be further refined.

Jan 4, 2019
Commentary

The United States Can't Rely on Turkey to Defeat ISIS

Relying on Turkey to shoulder the burden of countering the Islamic State will provide the terrorist group with an opportunity to revive itself at a critical stage in the fight. Turkey's main focus is on the Kurds and Erdogan's opposition. Eradicating the Islamic State is a secondary priority that has often been ignored.

Jan 2, 2019
Commentary

Data Breaches Could Cause Users to Opt Out of Sharing Personal Data. Then What?

As tech-based systems have become all but indispensable, many institutions might assume user data will be reliable, meaningful and, most of all, plentiful. But what if this data became unreliable, meaningless, or even scarce?

Dec 28, 2018

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