Meagan L Smith

The authors develop a framework of 17 indicators to assess valuable attributes of potential host nations from Beijing's perspective, focusing not only on the utility of host nations (desirability) but also on China's ability to secure access (feasibility). They recommend strategies for the U.S. government, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Army to better understand China's overseas plans and to prioritize risks to U.S. forces.

This update of a previous report provides findings on economic activity supported by total Army spending in congressional districts for fiscal years 2014 through 2017. Using input/output models, researchers estimated that the Army directly spent approximately $80.1 million in the median congressional district and $1.3 billion in the median state in fiscal year 2017, translating into approximately 3,800 jobs per district and 48,000 jobs per state.

The foreign policy and defense communities have intensively debated the efficacy of low-cost and small-footprint military options for crises such as those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. This report provides a statistical analysis of hundreds of cases, supplemented by case studies, to evaluate the strategic effects of each option across a range of irregular warfare operations and in a range of operational environments.

This study develops a framework for long-term U.S. Air Force posture planning that accounts for posture drivers and identifies steps to take to increase posture robustness and agility over the 30-year planning period. The authors recommend testing posture against failure of key assumptions and a large number of possible demands; considering seemingly implausible or unimportant future demands; and balancing posture stickiness and agility."

Competition with near peers has become the defining U.S. national security priority in recent years, requiring the U.S. Army to rethink its roles and responsibilities. In support of Army efforts to better contribute to DoD's response to competition challenges, the authors reviewed relevant documentation; interviewed subject-matter experts; and examined overlaps between the existing supply of Army capabilities and the demands of competition.

This report provides empirical evidence on the deterrent effects of U.S. overseas military forces. It investigates how these effects might vary by the type, size, and location of these forces, as well as the effects of U.S. forces deployed in the midst of crises. The analyses provide the clearest evidence in support of the deterrent effect of heavy ground forces, particularly when deployed near but not directly bordering potential adversaries.

To provide transparency into the decisionmaking process surrounding its planning processes, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asked RAND to develop a risk assessment methodology that can be used to identify the greatest risks to homeland security and support prioritization of DHS mission elements. The methodology is presented in this report.

Although there are compelling national security reasons to field a robust social media analysis capability, the U.S. Department of Defense must do so while navigating U.S. law and cultural norms and under conditions of great uncertainty. This report reviews the analytic approaches that will be most valuable for information operations, as well as legal, ethical, policy, technological, and training considerations.