Angela O'Mahony

The report tested the assertion that U.S. security cooperation (SC) can help reduce fragility in partner states. Based on an analysis of SC data and state fragility scores for 107 countries in 1991 2008, the study found a correlation between provision of SC by the United States and a reduction in partner state fragility, though the presence and degree of correlation depended on partner country characteristics and the type of SC provided."

In this report, researchers present recommendations for enabling the U.S. Army to better prioritize and coordinate its security cooperation activities with its allies for coalition operations and engagements in third countries, allowing it to meet its assigned objectives and strengthen combined capabilities to compete strategically and counter common threats around the world.

This report assesses U.S. efforts in defense institution building (DIB) in Africa and suggests possible improvements to planning and execution. It defines DIB and reviews some best practices from DIB and security sector reform experiences. It also highlights how DIB activities serve U.S. official strategic guidance for Africa.

This report's authors examine the contributions of overseas campaigning instruments to U.S. strategic goals. The authors conducted statistical analyses of the relationships between these tools and deterrence, access and cooperation, and partner stability and developed rough-order-of-magnitude cost estimates for these instruments to provide the foundations of a decision-support tool to inform U.S. Department of Defense campaign planning.

In this report, the authors describe an experimental "thinking-Red" approach to analysis, wargaming, and other exercises that might help inform strategies to avoid aggression or escalation in a crisis. The approach can be applied to (1) diverse potential adversaries, (2) direct and gray-zone conflicts, and (3) different levels of crisis, conflict or competition. The approach features alternative models of the adversary.

Recent national defense policies focus on the importance of multinational interoperability to meeting U.S. defense goals. By recounting their literature review and structured interviews with planners and army leadership, the authors describe potential benefits of interoperability, the applicability of those benefits in particular contexts, and the significant costs and risks that investing in it might entail.

The U.S. Army conducts security cooperation activities with partner nations to achieve several objectives; however, evaluating the effectiveness of these activities has been difficult. To help the Army prioritize and increase the effectiveness of its activities, this report addresses two questions: when can Army security cooperation have the greatest impact, and how should the Army assess, monitor, and evaluate security cooperation?

Modeling and simulation, if well rooted in social-behavioral (SB) science, can inform planning about some of the most vexing national problems of our day. Unfortunately, the current state of SB modeling and related analysis is not yet up to the job. This report diagnoses the problems, identifies the challenges, and recommends ways to move ahead so that SB modeling will be more powerfully useful for aiding decisionmaking.

There is an ongoing debate about whether U.S. military presence brings stability or an increased likelihood of conflict to a region. The authors of this report analyze historical data to assess how U.S. military presence--in particular, U.S. troop presence and military assistance--is associated with the interstate and intrastate conflict behavior of states and nonstate actors.

Future conflict projections suggest a continued decline in both interstate and intrastate conflict is likely through 2040. RAND researchers conclude the Army should help to support these trends by preparing for conventional wars against other states, although its most likely future missions will continue to involve irregular warfare against nonstate actors.

Using a multipronged approach, RAND Corporation researchers identified three key operational challenges that forward-deployed personnel have encountered--unity of effort, continuity of effort, and administrative complexity--and then assessed the extent to which persistent, networked, and distributed operations can mitigate these challenges.

The U.S. Army has introduced the global landpower network (GLN) concept as a means to integrate, sustain, and advance the Army's considerable ongoing efforts to meet U.S. national security guidance emphasizing the importance of working closely with partner nations to achieve U.S. strategic objectives. This report develops the GLN concept further.

This document reports on a study to assist the Army, geographic combatant commands, and the rest of the U.S. Department of Defense in better aligning security cooperation missions with national interests and security goals. In addition, the report provides some recommendations and analytic tools for the Army's leadership and regionally aligned force planners to improve regionally aligned force implementation.

Integrating women into special operations forces poses potential challenges for unit cohesion. The integration of women raises issues of effectiveness, in terms of physical standards and ensuring the readiness, cohesion, and morale essential to high-performing teams. This report assesses those challenges and provides analytical support for validating occupational standards for positions controlled by U.S. Special Operations Command.

This report examines the feasibility for non-state actors to increase their political and/or economic power by deploying a virtual currency (VC) for use in regular economic transactions. This report should be of interest to policymakers interested in technology, counterterrorism, and intelligence and law enforcement issues, as well as for VC and cybersecurity researchers.