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Commentary
Ohio's Train Derailment—Not Spy Balloons—Is the Real National Security Threat
The slow degradation of infrastructure and disaster response is less a spectacle than an overflying balloon, but the train derailment and chemical spill in Ohio highlights just how bizarre such a focus on perceived external national security threats has become. The far greater threat may be from within.
Feb 20, 2023
Commentary
Do Car Companies Know Where Their Critical Minerals Come From?
The initial slate of electric vehicles qualifying for a new federal tax credit was announced in April. Key to eligibility is the source of critical minerals used in their batteries. While the list of acceptable nations of origin is still being worked out, there's an important practical question the IRS should ask: Do carmakers really know where their critical minerals come from?
Apr 28, 2023

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Report
A New RAND Tool Helps Analyze Commercial Air Travel Involving Infected Passengers
Researchers combine case data from Johns Hopkins University with detailed air travel data from the International Air Transport Association to visualize how COVID-19 infections and commercial air travel have interacted to export infection risk across the world.
Jun 5, 2020
Report
Decisionmakers Should Base Travel Restrictions on Infection Rates Per Capita and Air Traffic Levels
Countries with modest numbers of confirmed cases can still represent the greatest risks of virus exportation to the United States if those countries have relatively high active case rates per capita and high levels of connectivity to the United States.
Jun 5, 2020
Report
Air Passenger Transmission Risk to GCC Countries Originated from Outside the Region
Analyses contradict the idea that Iran was most responsible for the spread of COVID-19 to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
Jun 5, 2020
Report
By January 31, 2020, at Least 1.5 Daily Infected Passengers Were Originating in China
By late January 2020, infections of COVID-19 were likely being exported from China, via commercial air travel, on a daily basis.
Jun 5, 2020
Commentary
The Risks of Autonomous Weapons Systems for Crisis Stability and Conflict Escalation in Future U.S.-Russia Confrontations
While autonomous weapons systems are still in their early development stages, it is worth the time of policymakers to carefully consider whether their putative operational advantages are worth the potential risks of instability and escalation they may raise.
Jun 3, 2020
Journal Article
Meeting Climate, Mobility, and Equity Goals in Transportation Planning Under Wide-Ranging Scenarios: A Demonstration of Robust Decision Making
Robust Decision Making offers a promising complement and possibly future alternative to current prediction-based and scenario approaches that could help planners better manage in today's conditions of fast-paced change.
May 21, 2020
Report
The Risk-Mitigation Value of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential: A Comprehensive Security Assessment of the TWIC Program
The Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) is designed to enhance security at U.S. ports. This report provides the findings from an assessment of the TWIC program, along with the assessors' recommendations.
May 13, 2020
Report
Countering Drug-Impaired Driving: Addressing the Complexities of Gathering and Presenting Evidence in Drug-Impaired Driving Cases
Driving under the influence of drugs is a serious and growing threat to public safety. Addressing these cases involves identifying impairment and presenting complex evidence in court. A panel of experts identified ways to address this challenge.
May 7, 2020
Commentary
Non-Emergency Medical Transportation in the Time of COVID-19
More widespread availability of rideshare for non-emergency medical transport may save lives, reserve emergency resources for those who need them, and provide safe pathways to primary care for the chronically ill. It could also save livelihoods, providing employment in a time of economic hardship.
May 5, 2020
Commentary
The Marine Transportation System, Autonomous Technology, and Implications for the U.S. Coast Guard
The authors briefly explore some emerging issues for the U.S. Coast Guard related to increasingly autonomous systems and the Marine Transportation System.
May 4, 2020
Commentary
Inventions Birthed by Necessity of Coronavirus
If necessity is the mother of invention, the new coronavirus is quickly birthing a lot of innovations. Parts of U.S. society may be forever changed by this pandemic. The national emergency will eventually end, but the longer it lasts, the less likely that the pre-pandemic business-as-usual ways will return.
Apr 20, 2020
Commentary
COVID-19: The Questions Ahead for Future Travel and Transport
COVID-19 could have lasting effects on future travel patterns. Future scenarios, a method for visualizing different possible futures, can help inform decisions in deeply uncertain situations and can be used to think about policies that are important for people's quality of life regardless of how the future unfolds.
Apr 15, 2020
Report
Small Unmanned Aerial System Adversary Capabilities
It is difficult to detect, identify, classify, and—consequently—counter nefarious small unmanned aerial systems (sUASs), particularly in urban areas. As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security prepares for this potential threat, it will need to know the types of threat scenarios in which these systems could be used, which design elements are likely to be exploited by a nefarious actor, and which technologies and capabilities may be available in the near future.
Mar 12, 2020
Journal Article
Guidebook for Multi-Agency Collaboration for Sustainability and Resilience
This guidebook provides a framework and practical advice for how to establish and sustain multi-agency collaborations that seek to address wide-ranging comprehensive policy objectives.
Mar 11, 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
Report
How to Analyze the Cyber Threat from Drones
Unmanned aerial systems—drones—have become more common, more readily available, and more sophisticated. And they have new capabilities, such as increased data collection and autonomous behavior. Their cybersecurity implications demand a coherent strategy.
Mar 5, 2020
News Release
Autonomous Vehicle Technology May Improve Safety for U.S. Army Convoys
The technology to make a U.S. Army convoy fully autonomous doesn't exist yet. But Army convoys could be made safer for soldiers by implementing autonomous vehicle technology to reduce the number of service members needed to operate the vehicles.
Feb 12, 2020
Blog
Civic Engagement and Health, the State of the Union, Better Sleep: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the link between civic engagement and health, policy insights from the State of the Union address, what couples can do to improve their sleep, and more.
Feb 7, 2020
Report
How the Army Could Use Automated Driving Technology
Fully automated convoys are not yet feasible, but U.S. Army R&D communities have been testing automated truck concepts in which manned and unmanned vehicles perform cooperatively in convoy operations. What are the potential benefits and risks of deploying this technology over the next five years?
Feb 5, 2020
Commentary
Belt and Road: Economic Gain Is Possible for All
China's true motivations for its Belt and Road Initiative may still be unclear. But the West could consider the initiative's potential to deliver sustained economic, social, and environmental benefits for all, and find ways to support infrastructure improvements in the countries involved.
Jan 30, 2020

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RAND Topic:
Transportation

Topic Synonyms:
Transportation Infrastructure

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Marjory S. Blumenthal

Adjunct Policy Researcher

Marjory Blumenthal (she/her) is an adjunct policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. She joined RAND as director of the experimental Science, Technology, and Policy program in spring 2016, with a broad remit including science and technology trends, societal impacts, and policy. Her work at RAND…
Christopher G. Pernin

Director, Engineering and Applied Sciences Department

Chris Pernin (he/him) is director of the Engineering and Applied Sciences Department and a senior physical scientist at the RAND Corporation. Since joining RAND in 1999, Pernin has been involved with or led a wide range of national security and domestic research projects on decisionmaking,…

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