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Can Artificial Intelligence Help Improve Air Force Talent Management?

Jan 19, 2021

An AI-enabled performance-scoring system could enable the U.S. Air Force to leverage existing data for improved human resource management policies and practices. How could this help senior leaders take full advantage of performance records when making talent management decisions?
Report

How to Protect Army Installations from Emerging Threats

Nov 10, 2020

Emerging technologies such as drones, 5G communications, smart city systems, and the use of social media disinformation by adversaries all pose potential threats to U.S. Army bases. A new framework can help assess possible solutions and the resources required to defend against these threats.

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Commentary

Gaming the System: Obstacles to Reinvigorating Defense Wargaming

Reinvigorating wargaming in the defense community offers great potential value given the complex strategic situation that the U.S. faces today. DoD should educate sponsors and consumers about the appropriate use of wargames, set realistic expectations, and build the right amount of risk acceptance into its gaming enterprise.

Feb 18, 2016
Commentary

Planning for the 'Army of the Future'

What must the Army be ready to do as part of a joint force, now and in the future? What capacities and capabilities should the Army have in order to be ready? The NCFA comes up short in its answers to both of these questions.

Feb 17, 2016
News Release

U.S. Military Service Members May Volunteer to Extend Tours if Incentives Offered

Nearly 60 percent of U.S. military service members surveyed were unwilling to voluntarily extend their tours because they believed doing so may adversely impact quality of life, morale, and possibly job performance. Others reported interest in longer tours under some circumstances, including if financial incentives were offered.

Feb 8, 2016
Commentary

Transforming 'Distributed Lethality' Strategy into Action

Distributed lethality offers a more offensive approach to using naval surface forces as potential adversaries acquire naval capabilities designed to control the sea. Translating the concept into action has implications for Navy operations, logistics, finances, and overall strategy.

Feb 8, 2016
Announcement

RAND Studies Help Inform Pentagon Decision to Open Combat Roles to Women

RAND researchers addressed topics such as whether members of U.S. special forces are ready to integrate women into their ranks and what lessons may be learned from other militaries that already have integrated women into combat positions.

Feb 5, 2016
Commentary

Ground Combat

The U.S. Army needs to pay attention to state-sponsored irregular forces, whose numbers are growing. Such groups represent the type of adversary U.S. ground forces are likely to face.

Dec 23, 2015
Commentary

Understanding the Abrams Doctrine: Myth Versus Reality

As the NCFA finishes up its work on the future of the Army it is worthwhile to note that the strategic context in which the Army operates and is organized has changed over time, resulting in different calculations of costs and risks.

Dec 9, 2015
News Release

Implications of Integrating Women into Marine Corps Infantry

The gender integration experiences of foreign militaries, as well as U.S. civilian police and fire departments, can provide valuable lessons for the U.S. Marine Corps as it considers making more opportunities available to women.

Dec 3, 2015
Commentary

Inside the Fish Bowl: High Stakes Acquisition Protests

The Boeing-Lockheed Martin team filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office asserting that the U.S. Air Force's selection of Northrop Grumman to build the Long Range Strike-Bomber was fundamentally flawed. Work on the program, valued at approximately $80 billion, is now paused.

Dec 3, 2015
Commentary

Building Interoperability for European Defense

To make the most out of declining defense budgets, the U.S. needs to engage European forces to build interoperability that would enable joint operations to deter and defeat potential adversaries, even with little advance notice. But building interoperable units has often proved difficult even among the friendliest of nations.

Nov 9, 2015
Commentary

Benghazi: Questions Unasked and Opportunities Missed

Instead of asking whether a video precipitated the attack or whether Ambassador Stevens should have been in Benghazi on that fateful night, the right question to ask is under what conditions the United States should have a diplomatic presence in high-risk areas.

Oct 22, 2015
Commentary

Lessons from the Past for the Future of the KC-46A

Analysis suggests that fixed-price contracts have not successfully reduced costs to the DoD associated with developing complex weapon systems. This has implications for the Air Force, given the importance of the ongoing KC-46A program.

Sep 16, 2015
Project

An Interactive Look at the U.S.-China Military Scorecard

To advance the public debate, RAND Project AIR FORCE used open, unclassified sources to compile 'The U.S.-China Military Scorecard: Forces, Geography, and the Evolving Balance of Power.' Use this interactive graphic to explore the operational areas covered in the report.

Sep 14, 2015
Commentary

U.S. Needs Larger Army, Not a Smaller One

To meet potential challenges in the Baltics and Korea while at the same time countering the existing terror threat posed by the Islamic State group and dealing with other problems that will doubtless emerge, the United States would need more troops, not less.

Sep 9, 2015
Commentary

Apply Principles of Professional Change Management to Acquisition Reform, or Risk Failure

If Congress enacts substantial changes to acquisition processes as part of the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, then it has a responsibility to ensure that the DoD has the opportunity and resources to implement proven change management principles to increase the chances for its success.

Aug 7, 2015
Commentary

Lessons from a Long History of Acquisition Reform

Congress and the DoD have a long history of efforts to improve the way weapon systems are acquired. Now, changes to DoD acquisition policies and processes are again being proposed in the House and Senate in an attempt to get needed military capabilities to soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines faster and cheaper.

Jul 17, 2015
Commentary

A 'Measured Approach' to Managing Military Officers

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's “Force of the Future” initiative may mean far-reaching changes in how military personnel are recruited, evaluated, assigned, promoted, retained, separated, and compensated. What is needed is a map that shows potential paths to reach the objectives.

Jul 15, 2015
Commentary

Understanding the U.S. Military's Morale Crisis

The military's discontent may stem from dissonance between the commitment to, and pride in, the mission in Iraq and Afghanistan and the knowledge that these sacrifices have not yielded the desired results. Those wars arguably have prompted a crisis of confidence within the military itself.

Jun 29, 2015
Commentary

The USA Freedom Act: The Definition of a Compromise

The USA Freedom Act does not “balance” privacy and national security, nor is it clear that any legislation can credibly do so. There's no monolithic view of what such a balance should look like.

May 29, 2015
News Release

Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Elected to RAND Board of Trustees

Chuck Hagel, the only enlisted soldier and Vietnam War veteran to serve as secretary of defense, has been elected to the RAND Board of Trustees. He served as the 24th U.S. Secretary of Defense from February 2013 to February 2015 and as a U.S. senator, representing his home state of Nebraska, from 1997 to 2009.

May 27, 2015

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