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Report

Insuring Public Buildings, Contents, Vehicles, and Equipment Against Disasters

Oct 9, 2020

What insurance and financial risk management practices do state and local governments employ for buildings, contents, vehicles, and equipment, and what role does Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance play in these decisions?
Commentary

The Downside of a Lean Electric Grid

Oct 13, 2020

The electric grid is central to U.S. national security. Recent disasters provide an example of the downsides of leanness. It's more costly to be less lean, but given our dependence on the electric grid and the increasing prevalence of disasters, safety and resilience may be greater priorities.

Explore Infrastructure

News Release

Future Quantum Computers May Pose Threat to Today's Most-Secure Communications

Quantum computers that are exponentially faster than any of our current classical computers and are capable of code-breaking applications could be available in 12 to 15 years, posing major risks to the security of current communications systems.

Apr 9, 2020
Article

Quantum Computers Will Break the Internet, but Only If We Let Them

Quantum computers are expected to be powerful enough to break the current cryptography that protects all digital communications. But this scenario is preventable if policymakers take actions now to minimize the harm that quantum computers may cause.

Apr 9, 2020
Commentary

It Is More Important Than Ever for Employers to Look After Staff Health and Wellbeing

COVID-19 will likely have a direct effect on the health and wellbeing of employees. While many employers responding to the COVID-19 crisis have understandably been concerned with business resilience, processes, and performance, it is important that they also continue to focus on the health and wellbeing of staff.

Apr 9, 2020
Report

Securing Communications in the Quantum Computing Age

Quantum computers are expected to revolutionize computing. But hackers may be able to use them to crack the encryption system that protects all digital communications. How soon could this scenario become a reality? And what can be done to prevent it?

Apr 9, 2020
Commentary

During Coronavirus Pandemic, Can Congress Members Do Their Jobs by Teleworking?

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a new challenge to how Congress conducts business. How can the United States leverage existing technologies so lawmakers can continue to work safely and securely?

Apr 6, 2020
Blog

COVID-19's Effects on Mental Health, Food Access, and Education: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on COVID-19 and mental health, food security challenges during the pandemic, supporting children while schools are closed, and more.

Apr 3, 2020
Commentary

Forgotten on the Frontlines of the Food Supply Chain

The working and living conditions of farmworkers make practicing social distancing, self-isolation, or quarantine impossible. In the food supply, farmworkers are the first responders who keep the supply chains going. FEMA, the CDC, and state governments should include farmworkers and agricultural communities in their emergency response plans.

Apr 3, 2020
Commentary

Should the Federal Workforce Stay Remote? Planning for After the Crisis

As physical distancing becomes the new norm, so too does telework. But should federal agencies maintain their remote operations for the long haul? As those of us involved with national security agencies, operations, and workforce issues know, this is not a decision to make lightly.

Apr 3, 2020
Commentary

Food Access: Challenges and Solutions Brought on by COVID-19

For the 14.3 million American households already experiencing food insecurity before the pandemic, shutdowns and restrictions have created new layers of hardship. Tremendous efforts are already underway to help. But the weeks to come will surely demand more creative solutions from the public and private sectors.

Mar 31, 2020
Report

The Defense Industrial Base Needs a Cyber Protection Program

The unclassified networks of defense industrial base firms have become a target for adversaries seeking to steal sensitive data, trade secrets, and intellectual property. How can the U.S. Department of Defense better secure these networks?

Mar 30, 2020
Commentary

Want to Know If a New Drug Crisis Is Growing? Check the Wastewater

Few people foresaw how quickly fentanyl would displace heroin, doubling or tripling opioid overdose deaths in some pockets of the United States from 2013 to 2017. But we could have been warned—if only we'd checked our wastewater.

Mar 26, 2020
Report

Measuring Cybersecurity and Cyber Resiliency

This report presents a framework for the development of metrics -- and a method for scoring them -- that indicates how well a U.S. Air Force mission or system is expected to perform in a cyber-contested environment.

Mar 26, 2020
Blog

Experts Discuss COVID-19: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on COVID-19, how the United States is responding to the coronavirus outbreak, the spread of misinformation during this time, and more.

Mar 20, 2020
Research Brief

How the U.S. Coast Guard Can Leverage Social Media and Enhanced Cell Phone Data to Improve Emergency Response

A growing proportion of maritime distress calls to the U.S. Coast Guard comes indirectly through social media, 911, or cell phones. Better understanding of the social media and cell phone environments could help inform future Department of Homeland Security policy on using these media in response operations.

Mar 17, 2020
Report

U.S. Coast Guard Emergency Response and Disaster Operations: Using Social Media for Situational Awareness

Researchers are helping the U.S. Department of Homeland Security understand whether and how social media might be better leveraged for situational awareness in U.S. Coast Guard response operations.

Mar 17, 2020
Commentary

Coronavirus, Telemedicine, and Dustbusters

Telemedicine has been with us for decades. And yet it hasn't transformed health care in the way that ATMs have transformed banking or cordless vacuums have transformed household cleaning. But the coronavirus pandemic could forever change how telemedicine is used.

Mar 16, 2020
Report

U.S. Army North in the Hurricane Maria Response

This report addresses questions from U.S. Army North about the assistance it provided to civilian disaster-response operations in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 1997.

Mar 10, 2020
Periodical

RAND Review: March-April 2020

Feature stories spotlight how technology can better serve the world's displaced people, the promise of supportive housing for people with mental illness, and a RAND climate scientist's personal brush with wildfire.

Mar 9, 2020
Blog

Coronavirus Outbreak, Drones, the U.S. Power Grid: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the intensifying coronavirus outbreak, cyber threats from drones, the vulnerabilities of the U.S. power grid, and more.

Mar 6, 2020
Q&A

Coronavirus Outbreak Intensifies: Q&A with RAND Experts

Cases of the coronavirus have now spread to several dozens of countries, infecting thousands and thousands of people across the globe. With concerns about the disease rising, we asked a group of RAND researchers to answer a wide range of questions about the crisis.

Mar 5, 2020

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