Skip to page content

Military Affairs

Featured

Military affairs comprise a range of topics from military personnel and veterans to equipment and facilities—as well as the methods, doctrines, organizational concepts, and technologies that support the military's strategic or tactical goals. RAND provides objective policy recommendations in all of these areas and more.

Report
Potential Pathways to Russian Escalation Against NATO
A Russia-NATO war is far from an inevitable outcome of the current conflict in Ukraine. U.S. and allied policymakers should be concerned with specific pathways and potential triggers, but they need not operate under the assumption that every action will entail acute escalation risks.
Jul 26, 2022
Report
Pentagon Processes on Civilian Casualties Inconsistent, in Need of Reform
The Department of Defense has committed to civilian-harm policies and processes, but inconsistencies remain. The Pentagon is not adequately organized or resourced to sufficiently assess, reduce, and respond to civilian-harm incidents. Reform will require institutional, not just operational, changes.
Jan 27, 2022

Explore Military Affairs

By Category
All Subtopics
All Authors

Report
Exploring Differences in Organizational Culture Within the Department of Defense
The authors of this report analyzed the organizational culture of communities within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to understand how the current culture could be characterized and how DoD's culture varies within the department.
Jun 22, 2023
Report
Simulating Chinese Gray Zone Coercion of Taiwan: Identifying Redlines and Escalation Pathways
This paper shares the results of an exercise hosted by the RAND Corporation to explore the risk of escalation from Chinese activities in the gray zone to conventional war. The results showed an overall low risk of Taiwanese escalation.
Jun 22, 2023
Commentary
The AI Conspiracy Theories Are Coming
Artificial intelligence is a technology ready-made for conspiratorial thinking. The time to counter conspiracy theories about AI is now—before they take hold in the minds of the public.
Jun 22, 2023
Commentary
Revive the Ram
In the face of aggressive maneuvers by Chinese vessels, the U.S. Navy can brandish ramming USVs as a capability to inhibit threats while limiting the risk of escalation. These relatively simple, inexpensive vehicles could be used alongside a variety of nonlethal weapons to manage confrontations, giving commanders more options as they attempt to prevent China from dominating the seas.
Jun 22, 2023
Journal Article
Terrorism, Dynamic Commitment Problems, and Military Conflict
Why do states initiate costly wars when the risk posed by terrorism appears marginal? We present two explanations and empirical evidence.
Jun 21, 2023
Commentary
How to Reform and Reconstruct Ukraine After the War
Hostilities in Ukraine are ongoing, but it is not too early to consider post-war reconstruction. Indeed, the United States and Europe have already begun planning what will probably be the most ambitious post-war rebuilding effort in modern history.
Jun 21, 2023
Report
Great-Power Competition and Conflict in Latin America
This report explores the potential for competition and conflict among the United States, China, and Russia in Latin America; where competition might turn into conflict; what form that conflict might take; and the implications for the United States.
Jun 20, 2023
Report
Language, Labels, and the DHS Lexicon: Analysis to Support a More-Inclusive Lexicon for Securing the Homeland
The authors analyze U.S. Department of Homeland Security documentation, processes, and procedures and then identify ways to improve them and to create an organizational culture that supports the lasting implementation of more-inclusive terminology.
Jun 19, 2023
Commentary
How Not to Help Ukraine
Good strategy involves clearly defining your objectives (ends), developing practical methods to accomplish them (ways), and then allocating sufficient resources (means) to turn these objectives and methods into reality. The debate over congressional support for Ukraine aid largely revolves around means. But what of the other two legs of the strategic triad?
Jun 17, 2023
Blog
Reconstructing Ukraine, Wildfires, Telehealth: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on reconstructing Ukraine, what to do about wildfires, virtual mental health care services, and more.
Jun 16, 2023
Testimony
Geographic Availability of Substance Use Disorder Treatment for Veterans
Far too many Americans, and especially veterans, fail to receive treatment for substance use disorder. Improved data collection on the availability and accessibility of treatment could help increase the number of veterans who get treatment and prevent unnecessary drug overdose deaths.
Jun 14, 2023
Commentary
Ukraine Is a Breeding Ground for Russian PMCs
Moscow's desire for additional fighters in Ukraine has created a breeding ground for Russian private military company (PMC) development. This explosion of what are essentially private armies is not only shaping the battlefield in Ukraine; it could have devastating impacts long after this conflict ends.
Jun 14, 2023
Commentary
How Might Ukraine's Counteroffensive End, and What Comes After?
Ukraine may soon launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces entrenched in eastern and southern Ukraine. We consider three ways this counteroffensive might end and their implications for the future.
Jun 14, 2023
Report
Managing Military Personnel Costs: Operation Retrenchment Specter, A Workforce Futures Game
To weigh options in managing military personnel costs, the U.S. Air Force explores trade-offs in a workforce futures policy game that simulates the monetary and nonmonetary effects of workforce and personnel policies in real time.
Jun 13, 2023
Report
Toward a Unified Multiscale Computational Model of the Human Body's Immediate Responses to Blast-Related Trauma: Proceedings and Expert Findings from a U.S. Department of Defense International State-of-the-Science Meeting
These proceedings describe the tenth U.S. Department of Defense International State-of-the-Science Meeting on Blast Injury Research, where experts discussed innovations in multiscale modeling of the human body's response to blast-related trauma.
Jun 13, 2023
Report
Promising Strategies to Support Justice-Involved Veterans
Veterans make up about eight percent of the 2.2 million people incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons. On top of this, an unknown number of veterans have had contact with the criminal justice system. What policies and programs can better support these individuals?
Jun 12, 2023
Commentary
State and Local Policy Is Changing for Psychedelics. What Will the Feds Do?
Psychedelics are attracting interest as a treatment for some mental health conditions. In response, some states and cities are changing their laws and policies on the supply and use of these mind-altering substances. But like cannabis, most psychedelics are federally prohibited—raising some tough questions for the federal government.
Jun 12, 2023
Blog
Extremist Beliefs Among Veterans, Space Traffic, Teacher Well-Being: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on whether extremist beliefs are more prevalent among veterans, why it's time to manage traffic in outer space, crises facing the Russian military, and more.
Jun 9, 2023
Journal Article
Competitive Alliances and Civil War Recurrence
Why do internal wars start anew after they apparently end? This essay examines competition between allied rebel groups in civil wars as a contributor to civil war renewal.
Jun 8, 2023
Commentary
The Case for a Governance-First U.S. Security Policy in the Sahel
Both terrorism and coups are on the rise in the Sahel. To reverse this troubling trend, the United States could ramp up support aimed at improving security governance, professionalizing militaries, and strongly sanctioning all forms of military takeovers in the region. This would require a real shift from the current U.S. security approach in the region.
Jun 8, 2023

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Next

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Melissa Shostak

Adjunct Research Assistant

Melissa Shostak (she/her) is an adjunct research assistant at RAND. She is interested in issues related to Russian security, private military contractors (PMCs), and strategic competition.
Rick Brennan, Jr.

Senior Political Scientist

Rick Brennan is an adjunct political scientist at the RAND Corporation and a career Army officer with high-level Department of Defense experience on issues relating to the war in Iraq, conflict resolution, homeland defense, and strategic planning. Brennan joined RAND in 1999 and since 2006 he…

Explore Our People »