Douglas Yeung

To investigate stakeholders' perceptions of fifth-generation (5G) technologies and how those perceptions could affect 5G's use for homeland security, researchers used a combination of literature review, social network and lexical analysis, reviews of existing data and studies in the commercial space, interviews, focus groups, workshops, and expert panel interviews. This report summarizes their findings and recommendations.

To evaluate public perception of the benefits and risks of U.S. Department of Homeland Security use of artificial intelligence technologies, researchers surveyed the nationally representative RAND American Life Panel about the department's uses of these technologies, with a focus on four types of technologies: facial recognition technology, license plate-reader technology, risk-assessment technology, and mobile phone location data.

The authors examined how U.S. government vetting processes and procedures could be enhanced by application of mobile technologies and platforms for the Security, Suitability, and Credentialing Performance Accountability Council Program Management Office. The research team identified key mobile platform and security factors to consider when communicating with and screening candidates and describe relevant private-sector practices.

This report documents the results of a study examining challenges that Air Force civilian women, racial/ethnic minorities, and individuals with disabilities may face in advancing to higher pay grades as well as factors influencing retention decisions. The study analyzed demographic differences in advancement and retention patterns and conducted focus groups and interviews with close to 300 participants.

Face recognition technologies (FRTs) have many practical security-related purposes, but advocacy groups and individuals have expressed apprehensions about their use. This report highlights the high-level privacy and bias implications of FRT systems. The authors propose a heuristic with two dimensions--consent status and comparison type--to help determine a proposed FRT's level of privacy and accuracy. They also identify privacy and bias concerns.

This report looks at demographic differences in U.S. Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training completion. It presents potential challenges that women and racial and ethnic minorities might face in entering and completing the training, as well as demographic differences in attrition rates, reasons for attrition, and an analysis of whether certain individual characteristics account for differential rates of attrition.

This report documents the results of a qualitative study designed to better understand the factors that female Air Force officers consider when deciding whether to remain in the active duty Air Force. It describes the key retention factors identified through focus groups and provides recommendations for improving Air Force policies and programs to help address potential barriers and improve female officer retention.

This report helps inform strategies to recruit women through the results of focus groups with recent recruits and recruiters. We recommend that resources be set aside to specifically target outreach to women, that the services increase the proportion of recruiters who are women and increase their visibility at recruiting events, and that the services work to reduce administrative burdens on recruiters and recruits.

Air Force officers progress in their careers by holding positions of increasing responsibility and by participating in developmental opportunities. Development teams (DTs) assist officers professional development by reviewing their plans and performance assessments, assessing career field requirements, and recommending education or special duties accordingly."

The authors evaluated the effectiveness of the Common Core the first phase of the U.S. Army's system for developing critical thinking skills in its officer corps and the extent of differences among course venues: distributed, resident, and mixed delivery. Future evaluation should focus on whether the best possible outcomes within venues, rather than equivalent outcomes across venues, are achieved."

This report is one of a series designed to support Air Force leaders in promoting resilience among its Airmen, civilian employees, and Air Force families. It examines the relationship between spiritual fitness and resilience, using key constructs found in the scientific literature: a spiritual worldview, personal religious or spiritual practices, support from a spiritual community, and spiritual coping.

Government organizations have put substantial effort into detecting and thwarting terrorist and insurgent attacks by observing suspicious behaviors of individuals at transportation checkpoints and elsewhere. This report reviews the scientific literature relating to observable, individual-level behavioral indicators that might, along with other information, help detect potential violent attacks.

In the months after the contested Iranian presidential election in June 2009, Iranians spoke out about the election using Twitter--a social media service that allows users to send short text messages, called tweets, with relative anonymity. This research analyzed more than 2.5 million tweets discussing the Iran election that were sent in the nine months following it, drawing insights into Iranian public and mood in the post-election period.