Susan A Resetar

This report examines climate adaptation strategies for 25 National Critical Functions (NCFs) at risk of disruption from climate change. The focus is on impact pathways, each of which is a combination of climate drivers (such as drought and flooding) and impact mechanisms (such as physical damage and workforce shortages) affecting a given NCF. The emphasis is on strategies that owner-operators of critical functions might implement.

In this report, authors provide an assessment of the ability of government agencies and the private sector on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border to collectively respond to Great Lakes oil spill scenarios. They assess the scope of current oil spill risks in the region; the roles, capabilities, and capacities of oil-spill response partners; and any gaps and potential mitigation strategies around oil-spill response in fresh water and ice.

This report reviews strategies to mitigate the risk that climate changes poses to four National Critical Functions: Maintain Supply Chains, Provide Insurance Services, Prepare for and Manage Emergencies, and Provide Public Safety. Such strategies can reduce a function's vulnerability to or the consequences it would experience from direct or indirect effects of climate change.

Researchers assessed the risk that eight climate hazards--drought, extreme cold, extreme heat, flooding, sea-level rise, severe storm systems, tropical cyclones and hurricanes, and wildfire--will pose to National Critical Functions by 2050 and 2100 under current and higher emissions scenarios, as well as potential for cascading risk due to interdependencies between these functions.

The impacts of climate change and other environmental threats are increasingly perceived by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as a national security threat. RAND researchers assess the knowledge, tools, and capabilities needed by the acquisition workforce to infuse environmental considerations into DoD requirements, acquisition, and resource allocation decisionmaking.

Climate hazards adversely affect the physical environment in which the U.S. Department of Defense must operate, thereby adversely affecting the performance of the joint force. Acknowledging that climate effects will likely become more severe as global temperatures rise, the authors of this report discuss findings from a study they conducted to develop links between climate and force readiness.

This report summarizes the findings of Evergreen V, the most recent iteration of an ongoing scenario-based strategic foresight initiative that aims to help the U.S. Coast Guard identify issues, areas of opportunity, and potential challenges that it will likely face in the coming decades, so that senior leadership can better bridge the gap between near- and long-term planning and prepare the service to meet future demands.

Hurricanes Irma and Maria stressed and destroyed significant areas of Puerto Rico's natural resources, many of which were already strained by anthropogenic effects. This report presents information on the benefits of these resources, hurricane damage, and 25 recommended courses of action for restoring natural resources, managing solid waste, renewing parks, and improving economic opportunities.

The authors examine the process the Air Force uses to determine manpower requirements, compare it with processes used in other services and organizations, and evaluate options for increasing the efficiency of the Air Force process.

The U.S. Coast Guard's motto is Semper Paratus--always ready. But for what? This report describes an approach to developing scenarios to aid in decisionmaking under deep uncertainty through the Evergreen strategic foresight initiative. The scenarios presented here focus on readiness, but the approach can be adapted for other contexts.

This report assesses water management, partnerships, rights, and market trends and opportunities, and how Army installations can potentially use them to improve programs and investments in water and wastewater systems. It provides examples from across the United States, along with detailed case studies of two states and two Army installations, and recommends ways to improve installation water security, programs, and infrastructure investments.

This monograph assesses the effectiveness of DoD's Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative to help testing and training installations deal with encroachment from sprawl and other sources.The authors identify the main causes of encroachment; detail the benefits, both to the military and local communities, of buffering areas near installations with REPI projects; and provide recommendations for how to improve REPI's effectiveness.It assesses the effectiveness of DoD's Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative in helping military installations develop partnerships to address encroachment with buffering projects on non-military lands.