Anika Binnendijk

In this report, the authors use 11 case studies to create a typology of the barriers that impede U.S. security cooperation with highly capable allies and partners; identify some of the more specific barriers in the air, space, and cyber domains; suggest mitigation strategies for each of these barriers; and propose a preliminary approach for implementing some of these mitigation strategies.

The authors of this report draw on Russian-language sources to examine trends in Russian personnel policies and initiatives from the 1990s through December 2021, prior to Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. They review the pervasive challenges within the Russian military to modernizing its personnel policies and evaluate reform efforts of the late 2000s through 2021, when major military reforms were implemented.

The Department of Defense has become increasingly focused on competition with China and Russia and the possibility of great power war. RAND researchers generated four plausible near-term war scenarios and assessed how they could shape the postwar strategic environment. These scenarios show the complex relationship between wartime and postwar goals, highlighting the importance of considering postwar outcomes in prewar planning.

In an occupation of Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania, conventional military intervention by allies would be crucial for the Baltic countries to achieve national independence. But Baltic civilians could play a powerful role in their own defense by pursuing a resistance strategy that imposed costs on the occupier, secured allied support, denied political or economic consolidation, reduced capacity for repression, and expanded popular support.

The author explores Russian military, economic, and political levers of power in the Black Sea through targeted research and an original RAND Black Sea security game, convened in June 2018.

Russia has long used political, military, economic, informational, and clandestine tools against countries in the Black Sea region. In this report, the authors present elements of a Western strategy to counter Russian malign influence and aggression.

The United States has long maintained a strategic partnership with Turkey, a powerful NATO ally, as a central element of U.S. strategy in Eurasia and the Middle East. But Turkey's ties with its neighbors, the United States, and Europe have become strained in recent years. RAND researchers assess key challenges confronting the U.S.-Turkish partnership and advance recommendations to sustain it during what is likely to be a turbulent decade ahead.