Rena Rudavsky

The Inspector General of the Air Force (SAF/IG) is leading an Air Force-wide effort to reduce the burden of Air Force inspection activities while also improving the quality of oversight the inspection system provides. In 2010, SAF/IG asked RAND Project AIR FORCE to join in this effort. This report presents primary data RAND collected on the Air Force inspection system and identifies effective inspection and information collection practices that the Air Force might emulate.

The report presents the results of two studies: The first compares the capabilities and development approaches used in the Joint Tactical Radio System wideband networking waveform and the commercial long-term evolution waveform, and the second analyzes military acquisition programs that have exceeded certain cost thresholds more than once.

As the need to identify known and suspected combatants has elevated the importance of biometrics in the Department of Defense (DoD), RAND researchers assessed how current activities are supporting end users and how DoD is preparing to focus biometrics on different missions. As overseas contingency operations wind down, DoD's biometrics program must move in a new direction, and continued funding must be justified in new ways.

This report addresses the conceptual basis, design, and implementation of the National Environmental Performance Track program. The voluntary program sought to encourage facilities to improve their environmental performance and provide a more collaborative relationship between facilities and regulators. While the program had mixed success, EPA should continue to seek out new approaches to complement and enhance traditional regulatory approaches.

In April 2009, the Department of Defense decided to terminate production of the F-22A Raptor. In advance of the decision, the Air Force asked RAND Project AIR FORCE to identify the costs and the industrial base implications of various shutdown options. This monograph evaluates the implications of three shutdown options for the F-22A industrial capability: shutdown; shutdown and restart; and warm production, in which a small number of aircraft are produced until a decision is made to return to full-rate production.