The RAND Corporation,

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

RAND, is an American

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

global policy

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

research institute A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...

, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

(R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the 1950s, RAND research has helped inform United States policy decisions on a wide variety of issues, including the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

space race The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...

, the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, the U.S.–Soviet nuclear arms confrontation, the creation of the Great Society social welfare programs, and national health care. RAND originated as "Project RAND" (from the phrase "research and development") in the post-war period immediately after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The U.S. Army Air Forces established Project RAND with the objective of investigating long-range planning of future weapons. Douglas Aircraft Company was granted a contract to research intercontinental warfare. Project RAND later evolved into RAND, and expanded its research into civilian fields such as education and international affairs. It was the first think tank to be regularly referred to as a "think tank". RAND receives both public and private funding. Its funding sources include the U.S. government, private endowments, corporations,

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

charitable foundation A foundation (also referred to as a charitable foundation) is a type of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that usually provides funding and support to other charitable organizations through grants, while also potentially participating d ...

s, U.S.

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

governments,

international organization An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own le ...

s, and to a small extent, foreign governments.

Overview

RAND has approximately 1,850 employees. Its American locations include:

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

(headquarters);

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

;

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

; and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The RAND Gulf States Policy Institute has an office in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. RAND Europe is located in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

;

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

; and

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. RAND Australia is located in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. RAND is home to the RAND School of Public Policy, one of eight original graduate programs in

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

and the first to offer a Ph.D. The RAND School offers a selective Ph.D. program that aims to provide an analytically rigorous and applied curriculum through coursework and collaboration with RAND researchers to address real-world problems. The campus is at RAND's Santa Monica research facility and is the world's largest institution specializing in graduate-level education in policy analysis. All Ph.D. students receive fellowships to cover their education costs. This allows them to dedicate their time to engage in research projects and provides them with on-the-job training. RAND also offers a number of internship and fellowship programs allowing students and others to assist in conducting research for RAND projects. RAND publishes the '' RAND Journal of Economics'', a

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

journal of economic sciences. Thirty-two recipients of the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

, primarily in the fields of

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, have been associated with RAND at some point in their career.

History

Project RAND

RAND was created after individuals in the War Department, the Office of Scientific Research and Development, and industry began to discuss the need for a private organization to connect operational research with

decisions. The immediate impetus for the creation of RAND was a conversation in September 1945 between General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold and Douglas executive Franklin R. Collbohm. Both men were deeply worried that ongoing demobilization meant the federal government was about to lose direct control of the vast amount of American scientific brainpower assembled to fight World War II. As soon as Arnold realized Collbohm had been thinking along similar lines, he said, "I know just what you're going to tell me. It's the most important thing we can do." With Arnold's blessing, Collbohm quickly pulled in additional people from Douglas to help, and together with Donald Douglas, they convened with Arnold two days later at Hamilton Army Airfield to sketch out a general outline for Collbohm's proposed project. Douglas engineer Arthur Emmons Raymond came up with the name Project RAND, from "research and development". Collbohm suggested that he himself should serve as the project's first director, which he thought would be a temporary position while he searched for a permanent replacement for himself. He later became RAND's first president and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1967. On 1 October 1945, Project RAND was set up under special contract to the Douglas Aircraft Company and began operations in December 1945. In May 1946, the '' Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling Spaceship'' was released.

RAND

By late 1947, Douglas Aircraft executives had expressed their concerns that their close relationship with RAND might create

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

problems on future hardware contracts. In February 1948, the chief of staff of the newly created United States Air Force approved the evolution of Project RAND into a

nonprofit corporation A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a nonprofit corporation ma ...

, independent of Douglas. On 14 May 1948, RAND was incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of California and on 1 November 1948, the Project RAND contract was formally transferred from the Douglas Aircraft Company to RAND. Initial capital for the spin-off was provided by the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

. Since the 1950s, RAND research has helped inform United States policy decisions on a wide variety of issues, including the space race, the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms confrontation, the creation of the Great Society social welfare programs, the digital revolution, and national health care. In the 1970s, RAND adjusted computer models it was using to recommend closures of fire stations in New York City so that fire stations were closed in the most fire-prone areas, home to Black and Puerto Rican residents, rather than in wealthier, more affluent neighborhoods. RAND contributed to the doctrine of nuclear deterrence by

mutually assured destruction Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would result in ...

(MAD), developed under the guidance of then-Defense Secretary

Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ...

and based upon their work with

game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...

. Chief strategist Herman Kahn also posited the idea of a "winnable" nuclear exchange in his 1960 book '' On Thermonuclear War''. This led to Kahn's being one of the models for the titular character of the film '' Dr. Strangelove'', in which RAND is spoofed as the "BLAND Corporation". Even in the late 1940s and early 1950s, long before Sputnik, the RAND project was secretly recommending to the US government a major effort to design a human-made satellite that would take photographs from space and the rockets to put such a satellite in orbit. RAND was not the first think tank, but during the 1960s, it was the first to be regularly referred to as a "think tank". Accordingly, RAND served as the "prototype" for the modern definition of that term. In the early 1990s, RAND established a European branch to serve clients across the public, private, and third sectors, including governments, charities, and corporations. RAND Europe is the European arm of RAND, and like its main branch, it is a nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to improving decision-making through evidence-based research and analysis. RAND Europe's stated mission is to improve policy and decision-making through rigorous, independent research. RAND Europe is incorporated in, and has offices in, Cambridge, The Hague, and Brussels.

Research

The research of RAND stems from its development of

systems analysis Systems analysis is "the process of studying a procedure or business to identify its goal and purposes and create systems and procedures that will efficiently achieve them". Another view sees systems analysis as a problem-solving technique that ...

. Important contributions are claimed in space systems and the United States' space program, in computing and in

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

. RAND researchers developed many of the principles that were used to build the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. RAND also contributed to the development and use of wargaming. Current areas of expertise include: child policy,

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

, civil and

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

(

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

and

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

), international policy/

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

, labor markets,

national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...

defense policy Military policy (also called defence policy or defense policy) is public policy dealing with multinational security and the military. It comprises the measures and initiatives that governments do or do not take in relation to decision-making and ...

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

, environment,

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

and

corporate governance Corporate governance refers to the mechanisms, processes, practices, and relations by which corporations are controlled and operated by their boards of directors, managers, shareholders, and stakeholders. Definitions "Corporate governance" may ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, intelligence policy, long-range planning,

crisis management Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organization or its stakeholders. The study of crisis management originated with large-scale industrial and envi ...

and emergency management-disaster preparation, population studies, regional studies, comparative studies,

science and technology Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

social policy Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize social policy and public policy to be two separate, competing approaches for the same public interest (similar to MD a ...

, welfare, terrorism and

counterterrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and Intelligence agency, intelligence ...

, cultural policy, arts policy, and transportation.

Defense and National Security

During the

, RAND researchers contributed to the development of nuclear strategy concepts such as deterrence theory and

. In recent years, RAND has analyzed military readiness, force modernization, and

strategies. For example, one study examined the effectiveness of

counterinsurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the ac ...

operations in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Healthcare and public health

RAND designed and conducted one of the largest and most important studies of health insurance between 1974 and 1982. The RAND Health Insurance Experiment, funded by the then–U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, established an insurance corporation to compare demand for health services with their cost to the patient. In 2018, RAND began its Gun Policy in America initiative, which resulted in comprehensive reviews of the evidence of the effects of gun policies in the United States. The second expanded review in 2020The Science of Gun Policy
A Critical Synthesis of Research Evidence on the Effects of Gun Policies in the United States, Second Edition analyzed almost 13,000 relevant studies on guns and gun violence since 1995 and selected 123 as having sufficient methodological rigor for inclusion. These studies were used to evaluate scientific support for eighteen classes of gun policy. The review found supportive evidence that child-access prevention laws reduce firearm self-injuries (including suicides), firearm homicides or assault injuries, and unintentional firearm injuries and deaths among youth. Conversely, it identified that stand-your-ground laws increase firearm homicides and shall-issue concealed carry laws increase total and firearm homicides. RAND also emphasized that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Both proponents and opponents of various

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...

measures have cited the RAND initiative. Additionally, RAND has researched the opioid epidemic, and

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

."Alcoholism Controversy,"
August 4, 1976, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022

Education and Social Policy

The RAND analysis of the Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching, a $575 million initiative from the Gates Foundation to increase teacher effectiveness, found that the interventions had no effect on student achievement.

Emerging technologies and innovation

RAND has examined the implications of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity threats, and autonomous systems. It was accused of working too closely with Open Philanthropy in its work on AI, at the risk of losing its independence. RAND employees have expressed concerns to Politico about the organization's objectivity after it was revealed that RAND helped draft the Executive Order on AI, following over $15 million in funding from a Facebook founder-backed Open Philanthropy. In December 2023, the House Science Committee sent a bipartisan letter to the

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into Outline of p ...

raising concerns over RAND's "research that has failed to go through robust review processes, such as academic peer review." On September 13, 2024, the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation sent a letter to RAND to better understand its "involvement in the AI Executive Order and the administration’s other actions related to online speech."

Other

* Auto insurance"An Analysis and Critique of the RAND Corporation's Studies in Support of No Fault Laws,"
2000, Consumer Watchdog, retrieved November 24, 2022 *

City government A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Clines, Francis X.
"The Men Who Tell City How to Run the City,"
July 8, 1970, ''

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022Szanton, Peter L. (RAND Corporation)
"Analysis and Urban Government: Experience of the New York City-Rand Institute,"
July, 1972, '' Policy Sciences,'' Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 153-161, Springer, at Jstor.org, retrieved November 24, 2022"Data in the Fire Service,"
2015, NFPA 2015 Responder Forum,

National Fire Protection Association The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a U.S.-based international nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property damage, and economic loss due to fire, electrical, and related hazards. , the NFPA claims to have 5 ...

(NFPA), retrieved November 24, 2022Flood, Joe: ''The Fires: How a Computer Formula Burned Down New York City—and Determined the Future of American Cities,'' 2011, Riverhead Books, -- summarized at
GoodReads.com
, and reviewed at
GoodReads.com
(by Rob Kitchin), and a
''Accounts,''
(newsletter of the Economics section of the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...

), Vol. XV, Issue 2, Spring 2016, page 32, retrieved November 24, 2022 *

and potential nuclear conflict Saul Friedman (''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

,'' Nieman Fellow)
"The Rand Corporation and Our Policy Makers,"
September 1963, ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

,'' retrieved November 25, 2022"Albert Wohlstetter, 83, Expert On U.S. Nuclear Strategy, Dies"
, January 14, 1997, ''

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022Rej, Abhijnan: Commentary
The Other Legacy of Robert McNamara,"
June 10, 2016, ''War on the Rocks,'' -- reviewed by Matthew Fay i
"Rationalizing McNamara's Legacy,"
August 5, 2016, Niskanen Center; Fay rebutted by RAND representatives John Speed Meyers and Jonathan P. Wong, a
"In Defense of Defense Analysis,"
September 2, 2016, ''The RAND Blog,'' RAND Corporation; retrieved November 24, 2022Wyne, Ali (RAND Corporation) opinion essay
"A new world order will likely arise only from calamity,"
July 24, 2018, ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022 *

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

Gordon, Michael R.
"Occupation Plan for Iraq Faulted in Army History,"
June 29, 2008, ''

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022 * National health insurance"The Real Health Issue,"
June 25, 1974, Page 36, ''

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022 *

Heilbrunn, Jacob
"Real Men of Genius"
(book review of ''Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corp and Rise of the American Empire'' by Alex Abella, 2008, Harcourt), September 21, 2008, ''

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022"The Insider"
(book review of ''Wild Man'' -- biography of Daniel Ellsberg -- by Tom Wells, 2001, Palgrave), July 22, 2001, ''

,''; also reviewed by Michael Young a
"The Devil and Daniel Ellsberg,"
June 2000, ''

Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022Kazin, Michael, reviewer
"Inside Job"
(book review of ''Secrets'' -- autobiography of Daniel Ellsberg, 2002, Viking), November 3, 2002, ''

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022Elliot, Mai (Foreword by James A. Thomson, RAND president)
''RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era,''
2010, RAND Corporation /

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, ; reviewed by James M. Carter a

August 2011, '' Journal of American Studies,'' Volume 45, Issue 3, pp. 631 - 633, reproduced at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Retrieved November 24, 2022 * Transparency in governmentNaughton, James M.
"Federal Warrant Is Issued For the Arrest of Ellsberg,"
June 26, 1971, ''

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022

Notable participants

* Henry H. "Hap" Arnold: General of the Air Force, United States Air Force *

Kenneth Arrow Kenneth Joseph Arrow (August 23, 1921 – February 21, 2017) was an American economist, mathematician and political theorist. He received the John Bates Clark Medal in 1957, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1972, along with ...

: economist, won the Nobel Prize in Economics, developed the impossibility theorem in

social choice theory Social choice theory is a branch of welfare economics that extends the Decision theory, theory of rational choice to collective decision-making. Social choice studies the behavior of different mathematical procedures (social welfare function, soc ...

* Bruno Augenstein: V.P.,

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and space scientist * Robert Aumann: mathematician, game theorist, won the Nobel Prize in Economics. * J. Paul Austin: Chairman of the Board, 1972–1981 *

Paul Baran Paul Baran (born Pesach Baran ; April 29, 1926 – March 26, 2011) was a Polish-American engineer who was a pioneer in the development of computer networks. He was one of the two independent inventors of packet switching, which is today the do ...

: one of the developers of

packet switching In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping Data (computing), data into short messages in fixed format, i.e. ''network packet, packets,'' that are transmitted over a digital Telecommunications network, network. Packets consi ...

which was used in

ARPANET The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first computer networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the tec ...

and later networks like the

* Richard Bellman: Mathematician known for his work on dynamic programming * Yoram Ben-Porat: economist and President of the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

Barry Boehm Barry William Boehm (May 16, 1935 – August 20, 2022) was an American software engineer, distinguished professor of computer science, industrial and systems engineering; the TRW Professor of Software Engineering; and founding director of the Cen ...

: worked in interactive computer graphics with RAND in the 1960s and had helped define the ARPANET in the early phases of that program * Harold L. Brode: physicist, leading nuclear weapons effects expert * Bernard Brodie: Military strategist and nuclear architect * Samuel Cohen: inventor of the neutron bomb in 1958 * Franklin R. Collbohm: Aviation engineer, Douglas Aircraft Company, RAND founder and former director and trustee. * Walter Cunningham: astronaut * George Dantzig: mathematician, creator of the simplex algorithm for

linear programming Linear programming (LP), also called linear optimization, is a method to achieve the best outcome (such as maximum profit or lowest cost) in a mathematical model whose requirements and objective are represented by linear function#As a polynomia ...

* Linda Darling-Hammond: educational researcher, co-director, School Redesign Network * Merton Davies: mathematician, pioneering planetary scientist * Michael H. Decker: Senior International Defense Research Analyst * Stephen H. Dole: Author of the book '' Habitable Planets for Man'' and head of Rand's Human Engineering Group * Donald Wills Douglas, Sr.: President, Douglas Aircraft Company, RAND founder * Hubert Dreyfus: philosopher and critic of artificial intelligence * Karen Elliott House: Chairman of the Board, 2009–present, former publisher, ''The

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''; Former Senior Vice President,

Dow Jones & Company Dow Jones & Company, Inc. (also known simply as Dow Jones) is an American publishing firm owned by News Corp, and led by CEO Almar Latour. The company publishes ''The Wall Street Journal'', '' Barron's'', '' MarketWatch'', ''Mansion Global'' ...

, Inc. *

Daniel Ellsberg Daniel Ellsberg (April 7, 1931June 16, 2023) was an American political activist, economist, and United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, he precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released th ...

: economist and leaker of the Pentagon Papers * Alain Enthoven: economist, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1965, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Analysis from 1965 to 1969 * Stephen J. Flanagan, political scientist,

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

senior director * Francis Fukuyama: academic and author of '' The End of History and the Last Man'' * Horace Rowan Gaither: Chairman of the Board, 1949–1959, 1960–1961; known for the Gaither Report. * David Galula, French officer and scholar * James J. Gillogly:

cryptographer Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or '' -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. More gen ...

and

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

* Paul Y. Hammond: political scientist and national security scholar, affiliated 1964–79, program director 1973–76 * Anthony C. Hearn: developed the REDUCE computer algebra system, the oldest such system still in active use; co-founded the CSNET computer network * Fred Iklé: US nuclear policy researcher * Brian Michael Jenkins: terrorism expert, Senior Advisor to the President of RAND, and author of '' Unconquerable Nation'' * Herman Kahn: theorist on

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a War, military conflict or prepared Policy, political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are Weapon of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conven ...

and one of the founders of

scenario planning Scenario planning, scenario thinking, scenario analysis, scenario prediction and the scenario method all describe a strategic planning method that some organizations use to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an adaptation and gen ...

and

Hudson Institute Hudson Institute is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporation. Kahn ...

* Amrom Harry Katz * Konrad Kellen: research analyst and author, co-wrote open letter to U.S. government in 1969 recommending withdrawal from Vietnam war * Zalmay Khalilzad: U.S. ambassador to United Nations *

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the ...

(1973–1977); National Security Advisor (1969–1975);

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

Winner (1973) * Ann McLaughlin Korologos: Chairman of the Board, April 2004 – 2009; Chairman Emeritus, The Aspen Institute * Lewis "Scooter" Libby: United States Vice-president

Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called vice presidency o ...

's former Chief of Staff *

Ray Mabus Raymond Edwin Mabus Jr. (; born October 11, 1948) is an American politician and lawyer. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2017. Mabus previo ...

: Former ambassador, governor * Harry Markowitz: economist, greatly advanced financial portfolio theory by devising mean variance analysis, Nobel Prize in Economics * Andrew W. Marshall: military strategist, director of the U.S. DoD Office of Net Assessment *

Jason Gaverick Matheny Jason Gaverick Matheny is an American national security expert who has been president and CEO of the RAND Corporation since July 2022. He was previously a senior appointee in the Biden administration from March 2021 to June 2022. He served as de ...

: selected as president and CEO of RAND in 2022 * Margaret Mead: U.S. anthropologist * Douglas Merrill: former Google CIO & President of EMI's digital music division * Newton N. Minow: Chairman of the board, 1970–1972 * John Milnor: mathematician, known for his work in differential topology * Chuck Missler: Bible Teacher, Engineer, chairman and CEO Western Digital * Lloyd Morrisett: Chairman of the board, 1986–1995 * John Forbes Nash, Jr.: mathematician, won the Nobel Prize in Economics *

John von Neumann John von Neumann ( ; ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian and American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist and engineer. Von Neumann had perhaps the widest coverage of any mathematician of his time, in ...

: mathematician, pioneer of the modern

digital computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', wh ...

Allen Newell Allen Newell (March 19, 1927 – July 19, 1992) was an American researcher in computer science and cognitive psychology at the RAND Corporation and at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, Tepper School of Business, and D ...

: artificial intelligence * Paul O'Neill: Chairman of the board, 1997–2000 * Edmund Phelps: winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics * Arthur E. Raymond: Chief engineer, Douglas Aircraft Company, RAND founder * Condoleezza Rice: former intern, former trustee (1991–1997), and former Secretary of State for the United States * Michael D. Rich: RAND President and chief executive officer, 1 November 2011 – 5 July 2022 *

Leo Rosten Leo Calvin Rosten (Yiddish: ; April 11, 1908 – February 19, 1997) was an American writer and humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism, and Yiddish lexicography. Early life Rosten was born into a Yiddish-speaking famil ...

: academic and humorist, helped set up the social sciences division of RAND * Albert S. Ruddy: programmer trainee, Oscar-winning producer of ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American Epic film, epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling The Godfather (novel), 1969 novel. The film stars an ensemble cast inc ...

'' and ''

Million Dollar Baby ''Million Dollar Baby'' is a 2004 American sports drama film directed, co-produced, scored by and starring Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Paul Haggis. It is based on stories from the 2000 collection ''Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner' ...

'' * Donald Rumsfeld: Chairman of board from 1981 to 1986; 1995–1996 and secretary of defense for the United States from 1975 to 1977 and 2001 to 2006. * Robert M. Salter: advocate of the vactrain maglev train concept *

Paul Samuelson Paul Anthony Samuelson (May 15, 1915 – December 13, 2009) was an American economist who was the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. When awarding the prize in 1970, the Swedish Royal Academies stated that he "h ...

: economist, Nobel Prize in Economics * Thomas C. Schelling: economist, won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics * James Schlesinger: former secretary of defense and former secretary of energy * Dov Seidman: lawyer, businessman and CEO of LRN * Norman Shapiro: mathematician, co-author of the Rice–Shapiro theorem, MH Email and RAND-Abel co-designer * Lloyd Shapley: mathematician and game theorist, won the Nobel Prize in Economics *

Cliff Shaw John Clifford Shaw (February 23, 1922 – February 9, 1991) was a systems programmer at the RAND Corporation. He is a coauthor of the first artificial intelligence program, the Logic Theorist, and was one of the developers of General Problem Sol ...

: inventor of the linked list and co-author of the first artificial intelligence program * Abram Shulsky: former Director of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans * Herbert Simon: Political scientist, psychologist, won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economics * James Steinberg: Deputy National Security Advisor to Bill Clinton * Ratan Tata: Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons * James Thomson: RAND president and CEO, 1989 – 31 October 2011 * Willis Ware: JOHNNIAC co-designer, and early computer privacy pioneer * William H. Webster: Chairman of the Board, 1959–1960 * Oliver Williamson: economist, won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics * Albert Wohlstetter: mathematician and

strategist * Roberta Wohlstetter: policy analyst and military historian * Ariane Tabatabai: former researcher

References

External links

* *
The Research and Development (RAND) Corporation
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