Cortney Weinbaum

RAND conducted two cybersecurity-focused discovery games in Washington, D.C., and California s Silicon Valley that aimed to capture the widest possible range of perspectives. The goals were to explore opportunities for improving cybersecurity, assess the implications of possible solutions, and develop an initial framework to support debate and inform decisions regarding cybersecurity policies and practices."

The authors describe how Russia's armed presence in Africa has changed from mid-2023 to September 2024. The authors seek to identify where Russian mercenaries have a presence in Africa, what types of activities they perform, and the resulting implications of mercenaries' use for African governments, economies, and civilian populations. The authors also analyze African publics' sentiment regarding Russian mercenaries and Russia itself.

The U.S. government has developed hundreds of approaches to promote and protect critical technologies and their associated industrial base, and the sheer number and diversity of these programs, policies, and initiatives present a logistical challenge for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The authors of this report describe a tool designed to help DoD decisionmakers--upon discovering a risk or vulnerability to a critical technology--quickly and effectively determine relevant approaches to mitigate the problem.

This report provides analysis about neurodivergence and neurodiversity for the national security community and steps to achieve neurodiverse inclusivity. The authors describe the benefits that people with neurodivergence bring to national security; challenges in recruiting, working with, and managing a neurodiverse workforce; and barriers in national security workplaces that prevent agencies from realizing the full benefits of neurodiversity.

In response to a requirement in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, the authors examine the strengths and vulnerabilities of China's defense industrial base (DIB) by designing and applying a comparative analytic structure that could be used to assess any country's DIB. They assess six areas: economics; governance and regulations; research, development, and innovation; workforce, labor, and skills; manufacturing; and raw materials.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Directorate of Intelligence sought RAND Corporation assistance in developing a repeatable process to measure the effectiveness of its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations to evaluate current performance and plan for, influence, and resource future operations. The authors identified measures of effectiveness and of performance to gauge the value and success of ISR support and requirements.

This report provides an overview of the literature on telework, examines telework practices from across seven government agencies, and explains how government agencies benefit when employees engage in telework. There are similarities across successful agency telework programs regarding compliance with federal and organizational policies, technological accommodations, return on investment, performance management tools, and training.

This report provides analysis and recommendations for intelligence agencies regarding how to conduct work outside secure government facilities by identifying policy, legal, technology, security, financial, and cultural considerations. This report provides steps that intelligence agencies can take to address these considerations and overcome potential challenges.

In 2015, for the first time, millennials outnumbered baby boomers as the largest generational segment of the U.S. population. This report describes how the intelligence community must engage millennials across multiple segments to succeed in the future: millennials as intelligence clients, employees, and partners and as members of the public.