Julia Lowell

This monograph presents findings of a RAND Project AIR FORCE research project documenting lessons learned by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and other Department of Defense (DoD) cost analysis and acquisition community members from the implementation of evolutionary acquisition (EA) strategies for major Air Force defense space acquisition programs. In May 2003, DoD mandated EA strategies relying on spiral development as the preferred approach to satisfying operational needs.

Is U.S. high-technology manufacturing at risk? In response to the concern that an increasing amount of high-technology manufacturing formerly performed in the United States is now being done overseas, the Office of Science and Technology Policy asked the Rand Corporation to provide analytic support to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The support included a description of past and current trends of U.S. high-tech manufacturing, a theoretical and empirical economic analysis of traditional and high-tech manufacturing, and an analysis of U.S. research and development statistics and of trends in choices of academic disciplines.

Argues that the recent cuts in state arts agencies' budgets are a product of the agencies' political weakness rather than just a one-time response to fiscal crisis, and proposes a solution plus salient issues that must be addressed. Numerous U.S. state and jurisdictional governments cut their arts budgets in 2003 and 2004. The author argues that the reason for these cuts is not just a one-time fiscal crisis, but the political weakness of state arts agencies that has arisen because of a growing mismatch between their roles and structures and the cultural and political realities they face. A shift in the arts agencies' focus and funding may be a solution, but it cannot take place until important conceptual and practical issues are resolved.

An examination of the effects of consolidation and globalization on the aerospace defense industry. The increasing consolidation of the defense aerospace industry, brought about by post-Cold War reductions in defense authorizations, has led to the proliferation of cross-border relationships between U.S. and European firms. This report examines aerospace industry globalization trends with a view toward determining how the U.S. Air Force can best exploit such trends while minimizing their risks. It concludes that further research must be done to ascertain how the advantages of globalization, such as increased competition and interoperability, can best be achieved without compromising security concerns. [AF]

One liner: Examines the state of the performing arts in America: audiences, artists, and performing groups and their financial health. Abstract text: What is the state of the performing arts in America at the turn of the 21st century? After decades of expansion, how are performing arts organizations faring? Has demand for live performances been increasing or decreasing? Are more Americans choosing the performing arts as a profession? And what is the likely effect of the internet on the arts? The authors identify key trends affecting audiences, artists, arts organizations, and financing for all the performing arts. The most dramatic growth in demand for the performing arts has taken place in the market for recorded and broadcast performances. Live performances are increasingly provided by small performing groups at the community level--low-budget dance troupes, music groups, and theater ensembles that perform for little or no pay. In a few major cities, the largest and best-known organizations are growing even larger by focusing on star-studded productions that pull in the crowds.But conventional midsized arts organizations--once seen as the foremost purveyors of culture to middle America--are under significant financial stress. These and other trends suggest that policies that support artists and arts organizations may be less effective than strategies encouraging greater participation in the arts by a wider range of Americans in a wider range of art forms.

This report discusses the Issues surrounding more effective utilisation of the civilian industrial base by the Department of Defence (DoD) and the U.S. Air Force. The first section of the report focuses on the "dual-use" nature of civillan and military industrial bases. The technology area studies, radar-related and other radio-frequency microwave devices, has traditionally been defence-specific. The second section of the report identifies mechanisms for minimising the risks of inadequate product performance and excessively high cost in less-regulated commercial market environments. It discusses how well these mechanisms have worked in a defence-relevant commercial sector - the large transport aircraft industry - as well as in several experimental and pilot programs Initiated by the Air Force and other defence agencies and services.