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National Security and Terrorism

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RAND conducts a broad array of national security research for the U.S. Department of Defense and allied ministries of defense. Our federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) explore threat assessment, military acquisition, technology, recruitment and personnel management, counterinsurgency, intelligence, and readiness. RAND is a world leader in terrorism research. Studies address such topics as terrorism financing and strategies to undermine violent extremism.

Commentary

Arms Control Held Hostage

Dec 28, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have wisely promised to extend the 2010 New START Treaty, which cuts long-range nuclear arms. The two leaders may also pursue a broader follow-on accord, but frigid U.S.-Russian relations could put this out of reach. Progress on arms control often comes when political winds are warmer.
Report

Allies Growing Closer: Japan-Europe Security Ties in the Age of Strategic Competition

Dec 21, 2020

Some of America's strongest allies are its European partners and Japan. In an age of growing strategic competition, how are these allies cooperating with one another? And how might these partnerships affect the United States?

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Multimedia

Russian Interference in the 2020 U.S. Election

RAND military sociologist Marek Posard describes several broad risks of foreign interference in American democracy and explains how Russia may use reflexive control theory to cause disruption in the 2020 U.S. Election.

Oct 1, 2020
Report

How Russia Targets U.S. Elections

In this campaign season, Russia might try to manipulate U.S. voters through social media as it did in 2016. New technologies have made these efforts easier. Russia's tactics aim to polarize Americans, create distrust, and paralyze the political process. What is the best defense against them?

Oct 1, 2020
Report

China's Evolving Military Strategy and Doctrine

The People's Liberation Army has made impressive modernization progress over the past three decades, but it is unclear how its efforts will translate to battlefield performance. Chinese military theory, strategy, and operational concepts are key to understanding how the PLA might fight when needed.

Sep 29, 2020
Commentary

North Korea Has Agreed to Denuclearization. Trump Could Try to Make It Happen

President Trump came into office determined to rein in the North Korean nuclear weapons program. But it has become quite clear that North Korea has no intention of giving it up. How might the United States bring North Korea into compliance with its denuclearization commitments?

Sep 28, 2020
Commentary

Ambiguity Has Its Uses

As China's thirst to resolve the Taiwan issue intensifies, the United States' halfhearted commitment to the island will become increasingly perilous: too weak to deter Chinese aggression but strong enough to drag the United States into a war. No U.S. approach to Taiwan will offer a perfect guarantee of peace. But the United States has many options short of the provocative, costly, and diplomatically risky step of an unconditional security pledge.

Sep 24, 2020
Tool

A Modeling Framework for Optimizing U.S. Air Force Fighter Pilot Access to Advanced Training Ranges

This tool presents the technical details of an optimization model for the U.S. Air Force to analyze the potential effectiveness of different combinations of range upgrades and squadron restationing to improve access to advanced ranges.

Sep 24, 2020
Commentary

The American Jihad Was a Failure. For Those Who Joined, It Was a Path to Destruction

To keep the jihad going after 9/11, al Qaeda exhorted homegrown terrorists to take up arms in the United States. ISIS later made similar appeals. These calls to arms yielded some plots and a few attacks, but overall, the American jihad was a failure.

Sep 23, 2020
Dissertation

Attracting the Right Volunteers: U.S. Army Functional Areas and the Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program

Explores how the United States Army has adapted to the Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program, which allows mid-career Army officers to volunteer to switch specialties to a functional area.

Sep 23, 2020
Testimony

The Role of Allies and Partners in U.S. Military Strategy and Operations

America's time as the world's sole superpower is ending, and the country faces significant challenges. The United States needs to strengthen its network of partnerships to prepare for a new era of great-power competition.

Sep 23, 2020
News Release

New Game, the First Offered by RAND to Public, Challenges Players to Design Defense Strategies for Uncertain World

The RAND Corporation has released a boxed version of Hedgemony: A Game of Strategic Choices that researchers originally developed to help the Pentagon craft its capstone guidance document, the 2018 National Defense Strategy. It is the first wargame offered by RAND to the public and carries a $250 price tag.

Sep 22, 2020
Multimedia

Hedgemony: A Game of Strategic Choices

Hedgemony is a tabletop game designed to challenge players to outline a strategy and then make tough choices as they try to develop, manage, posture, and employ their forces in alignment with their strategies.

Sep 22, 2020
Report

Which African Countries Are Most at Risk of Importing COVID-19?

U.S. forces in Africa are usually in unstable areas that have low levels of international air travel. Those regions are less likely to import COVID-19. The near-term driver of COVID-19 risk in Africa will more likely be the flow of travelers from Western Europe to Morocco, South Africa, and Algeria.

Sep 22, 2020
Report

COVID-19 Was Spreading Globally for Weeks Before It Was Declared a Pandemic

Worldwide exports of COVID-19 cases began increasing at an accelerating rate on February 19, 2020. That was three weeks before the World Health Organization declared the pandemic. By the end of February, nearly 40 cases per week were spreading around the globe via air travel.

Sep 22, 2020
Report

The Effect of Blast-Related Burn Injuries from Prolonged Field Care to Rehabilitation and Resilience: A Review of the Scientific Literature

Researchers reviewed literature about blast-related burn injury, which is common among service members and is associated with infection, disability, military discharge, and mortality. Further research is needed on burn prevention and field care.

Sep 21, 2020
Dissertation

Loosening the Okinawan Knot: A Mixed-Methods Study of Okinawan Public Perceptions of the U.S. Military

Provides a detailed and reliable understanding of the nature of the Okinawan public's perceptions, policy preferences, and cultural attitudes regarding the problems and benefits associated with the U.S. military in Okinawa.

Sep 21, 2020
Tool

Hedgemony: A Game of Strategic Choices

In this tabletop military strategy game, players represent the United States, its allies, and its key competitors. They must use “hedging” strategies and decide how to best manage their resources and forces.

Sep 21, 2020
Blog

Wildfires, America's Wealth Gap, Screening for COVID-19 at Work: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the growing risk of wildfires, how Americans' incomes have grown (or not), workplace screenings for COVID-19 symptoms, and more.

Sep 18, 2020
Commentary

In the Middle East, Russia and China Expand Their Influence

While the United States is concerned primarily about a resurgent China's inroads in the Middle East, it is also nervous about the gambits of a revanchist Russia. As the United States decides when and how to contest China and Russia—in and beyond the Middle East—it will have to resist alarmism as vigorously as complacency.

Sep 18, 2020
Report

Improving Strategic Resource Management in the Air Force Recruiting Enterprise: Challenges and Next Steps for Policymakers

The Air Force applies multiple recruiting resources to meet its goal of roughly 30,000 new enlistment contracts annually. The authors describe the data needed to determine how these recruiting resources affect enlistments.

Sep 17, 2020
Multimedia

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper Visits RAND

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper visited RAND's Santa Monica headquarters on September 16, 2020. Secretary Esper emphasized the importance of deterring China and the role of the U.S. defense industrial base.

Sep 16, 2020

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