The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development")
is an American
nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
global policy
think tank
A think tank, or 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-governmenta ...
created in 1948 by
Douglas Aircraft Company
The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...
to offer research and analysis to the
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
. It is financed by the
U.S. government and private
endowment,
[ corporations,] universities
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
[ and private individuals.][
The company assists other governments, international organizations, private companies and foundations with a host of defense and non-defense issues, including healthcare. RAND aims for interdisciplinary and quantitative problem solving by translating ]theoretical
A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...
concepts from formal economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
and the physical sciences
Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences".
Definition
Phy ...
into novel applications in other areas, using applied science
Applied science is the use of the scientific method and knowledge obtained via conclusions from the method to attain practical goals. It includes a broad range of disciplines such as engineering and medicine. Applied science is often contrasted ...
and operations research
Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...
.
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 is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...
; Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
; and Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, . The RAND Gulf States Policy Institute has an office in , Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
. RAND Europe is located in Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, and Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. RAND Australia is located in Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
RAND is home to the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School
The Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School (Pardee RAND) is a private graduate school associated with the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California. The school offers doctoral studies in policy analysis and practical experience working on RAN ...
, one of eight original graduate programs in public policy
Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...
and the first to offer a PhD. The program aims to provide practical experience for its students, who work with RAND analysts on real-world problems. The campus is at RAND's Santa Monica research facility. The Pardee RAND School is the world's largest PhD-granting program in policy analysis.
Unlike many other universities, all Pardee RAND Graduate School students receive fellowships to cover their education costs. This allows them to dedicate their time to engage in research projects and provides them on-the-job training.[ RAND also offers a number of internship and fellowship programs allowing students and outsiders to assist in conducting research for RAND projects. Most of these projects are short-term and are worked on independently with the mentoring of a RAND staff member.]
RAND publishes the ''RAND Journal of Economics
''The RAND Journal of Economics'' (usually called ''RAND Journal'' or simply ''Rand'' ) is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of economics published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the RAND Corporation. It publishes theoretical and empirica ...
'', 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 economics.
Thirty-two recipients of the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
, primarily in the fields of economics and physics, have been associated with RAND at some point in their career.
History
Project RAND
RAND was created after individuals in the War Department War Department may refer to:
* War Department (United Kingdom)
* United States Department of War (1789–1947)
See also
* War Office, a former department of the British Government
* Ministry of defence
* Ministry of War
* Ministry of Defence
* D ...
, the Office of Scientific Research and Development
The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May 1 ...
, and industry began to discuss the need for a private organization to connect operational research
Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...
with research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
decisions.[ The immediate impetus for the creation of RAND was a fateful 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
Hamilton Field (Hamilton AFB) was a United States Air Force base, which was inactivated in 1973, decommissioned in 1974, and put into a caretaker status with the Air Force Reserves until 1976. It was transferred to the United States Army in 1983 ...
to sketch out a general outline for Collbohm's proposed project.
Douglas engineer Arthur Emmons Raymond
Arthur Emmons Raymond (March 24, 1899 in Boston Massachusetts – March 22, 1999 in Santa Monica, California) was an aeronautical engineer who led the team that designed the DC-3.
Raymond grew up in Pasadena, California, the son of the owner of ...
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
The Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling Spaceship was a 1946 proposal by Project RAND for a United States satellite program. Robert M. Salter, Jack Lipp and one other person at RAND served as the editors of the report.
The Prelimi ...
'' was released.
RAND Corporation
By late 1947, Douglas 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 interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
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, 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 the RAND Corporation.][ 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 US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
.
Since the 1950s, RAND research has helped inform United States policy decisions on a wide variety of issues, including the space race, the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms confrontation, the creation of the Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The term was first coined during a 1964 commencement address by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the University ...
social welfare programs, the digital revolution, and national health care.
Its most visible contribution may be the doctrine of nuclear deterrence
Deterrence theory refers to the scholarship and practice of how threats or limited force by one party can convince another party to refrain from initiating some other course of action. The topic gained increased prominence as a military strategy ...
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 cause the ...
(MAD), developed under the guidance of then-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the Lis ...
and based upon their work with game theory
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...
. Chief strategist Herman Kahn
Herman Kahn (February 15, 1922 – July 7, 1983) was a founder of the Hudson Institute and one of the preeminent futurists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He originally came to prominence as a military strategist and systems theo ...
also posited the idea of a "winnable" nuclear exchange in his 1960 book ''On Thermonuclear War
''On Thermonuclear War'' is a book by Herman Kahn, a military strategist at the RAND Corporation, although it was written only a year before he left RAND to form the Hudson Institute. It is a controversial treatise on the nature and theory of war ...
''. This led to Kahn 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 man-made satellite that would take photographs from space—and the rockets to put such a satellite in orbit.
Mission
RAND was incorporated as a non-profit organization to "further promote scientific, educational, and charitable purposes, all for the public welfare and security of the United States of America". Its self-declared mission is "to help improve policy and decision making through research and analysis", using its "core values of quality and objectivity".
Achievements
The achievements of RAND stem 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 system analysis as a problem-solving technique that b ...
. Important contributions are claimed in space systems and the United States' space program
A space program is an organized effort by a government or a company with a goal related to outer space.
Lists of space programs include:
* List of government space agencies
* List of private spaceflight companies
* List of human spaceflight prog ...
, in computing and in artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
. RAND researchers developed many of the principles that were used to build the Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
. RAND also contributed to the development and use of wargaming
A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...
.
Current areas of expertise include: child policy, civil
Civil may refer to:
*Civic virtue, or civility
*Civil action, or lawsuit
* Civil affairs
*Civil and political rights
*Civil disobedience
*Civil engineering
*Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism
*Civilian, someone not a membe ...
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 (penology), rehabilitation of o ...
, education, health, international policy, labor markets, national security, infrastructure, energy, environment, corporate governance, economic development, intelligence policy, long-range planning, crisis management and disaster preparation, population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
and regional studies
Area studies (also known as regional studies) are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/ federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what are, ...
, science and technology, social welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
, terrorism, arts policy, and transportation.
RAND designed and conducted one of the largest and most important studies of health insurance between 1974 and 1982. The RAND Health Insurance Experiment
The RAND Health Insurance Experiment (RAND HIE) was an experimental study from 1974 to 1982 of health care costs, utilization and outcomes in the United States, which assigned people randomly to different kinds of plans and followed their behavi ...
, funded by the then–U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...
, 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 2020[The 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 were used to determine the level of scientific support for eighteen classes of gun policy.
Controversy
Almost since its inception, the RAND Corporation has been involved in controversial issues—and its reports, recommendations and influence have been the subject of extensive public debate and controversy. Among these have been:
* Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
and potential nuclear conflict[ Saul Friedman ('']Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in 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''. With it ...
,'' Nieman Fellow
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awards multiple types of fellowships.
Nieman Fellowships for journalists
A Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University ...
)
"The Rand Corporation and Our Policy Makers,"
September 1963, ''The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
,'' retrieved November 25, 2022["Albert Wohlstetter, 83, Expert On U.S. Nuclear Strategy, Dies"](_blank)
January 14, 1997, ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,'' 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, ''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022[Rej, 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, 2022[Wyne, Ali (RAND Corporation) opinion essay]
"A new world order will likely arise only from calamity,"
July 24, 2018, ''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022
* City government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
[Clines, Francis X.]
"The Men Who Tell City How to Run the City,"
July 8, 1970, ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022[Szanton, Peter L. (RAND Corporation)]
"Analysis and Urban Government: Experience of the New York City-Rand Institute,"
July, 1972, ''Policy Sciences
''Policy Sciences'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering issues and practices in the policy studies. It was established in 1970 and is published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Society of Policy Scientists. Th ...
,'' Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 153-161, Springer, at Jstor.org, retrieved November 24, 2022["Data in the Fire Service,"](_blank)
2015, NFPA 2015 Responder Forum, National Fire Protection Association
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is an international nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards. As of 2018, the NFPA claims to have 50,000 mem ...
(NFPA), retrieved November 24, 2022[Flood, 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 fif ...
), Vol. XV, Issue 2, Spring 2016, page 32, retrieved November 24, 2022
* Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
[Naughton, James M.]
"Federal Warrant Is Issued For the Arrest of Ellsberg,"
June 26, 1971, ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022["The Insider"](_blank)
(book review of ''Wild Man'' -- biography of Daniel Ellsberg -- by Tom Wells, 2001, Palgrave), July 22, 2001, ''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
,''; also reviewed by Michael Young a
"The Devil and Daniel Ellsberg,"
June 2000, ''Reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022[Kazin, Michael, reviewer]
"Inside Job"
(book review of ''Secrets'' -- autobiography of Daniel Ellsberg, 2002, Viking), November 3, 2002, ''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022[Elliot, 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 is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
, ; reviewed by James M. Carter a
August 2011, ''Journal of American Studies
The ''Journal of American Studies'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering international perspectives on the history, literature, politics and culture of the United States. It includes a book review section. Though academic in natu ...
,'' Volume 45 , Issue 3 , pp. 631 - 633, reproduced at Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
. Retrieved November 24, 2022
* Transparency in government
Open government is the governing doctrine which sustain that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. In its broadest construction, it opposes reason of state and ...
* National health insurance["The Real Health Issue,"](_blank)
June 25, 1974, Page 36, ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022
* Alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...
["Alcoholism Controversy,"](_blank)
August 4, 1976, ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022
* Auto insurance
Vehicle insurance (also known as car insurance, motor insurance, or auto insurance) is insurance for automobile, cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage or bod ...
["An Analysis and Critique of the RAND Corporation's Studies in Support of No Fault Laws,"](_blank)
2000, Consumer Watchdog
Consumer Watchdog (formerly the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights) is a non-profit, progressive organization which advocates for taxpayer and consumer interests, with a focus on insurance, health care, political reform, privacy and ener ...
, retrieved November 24, 2022
* Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
[Gordon, Michael R.]
"Occupation Plan for Iraq Faulted in Army History,"
June 29, 2008, ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022
* 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 by civilians.
Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...
[Ingraham, Christopher]
"The best available evidence suggests NRA-backed gun policies are making crime worse,"
March 2, 2018, ''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022[Brown, Aaron and Justin Monticello]
"Do Studies Show Gun Control Works? No."
March 31, 2022, ''Reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022 -- reviewed a
"Video Obliterates Anti-Gun Junk Science,"
April 11, 2022, National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
, retrieved November 24, 2022[Stolberg, Sheryl Gay]
"Can New Gun Violence Research Find a Path Around the Political Stalemate?,"
March 27, 2021, updated April 2, 2021, ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,'' retrieved November 24, 2022
Notable participants
* Henry H. "Hap" Arnold: General of the Air Force
General of the Air Force (GAF) is a five-star general officer rank and is the highest possible rank in the United States Air Force. General of the Air Force ranks immediately above a general and is equivalent to General of the Army in the Unit ...
, United States Air Force
* Kenneth Arrow
Kenneth Joseph Arrow (23 August 1921 – 21 February 2017) was an American economist, mathematician, writer, and political theorist. He was the joint winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with John Hicks in 1972.
In economics ...
: economist, won the Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
, developed the impossibility theorem
In contract law, impossibility is an excuse for the nonperformance of duties under a contract, based on a change in circumstances (or the discovery of preexisting circumstances), the nonoccurrence of which was an underlying assumption of the c ...
in social choice theory
Social choice theory or social choice is a theoretical framework for analysis of combining individual opinions, preferences, interests, or welfares to reach a ''collective decision'' or ''social welfare'' in some sense.Amartya Sen (2008). "Soci ...
* 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 caus ...
, 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, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
and space scientist
* Robert Aumann
Robert John Aumann (Hebrew name: , Yisrael Aumann; born June 8, 1930) is an Israeli-American mathematician, and a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He is a professor at the Center for the Study of Rationality in the Hebrew ...
: mathematician, game theorist
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...
, won the Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
.
* 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 dom ...
: one of the developers of packet switching
In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping Data (computing), data into ''network packet, packets'' that are transmitted over a digital Telecommunications network, network. Packets are made of a header (computing), header and ...
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 networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...
and later networks
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics
...
like the Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
* Richard Bellman
Richard Ernest Bellman (August 26, 1920 – March 19, 1984) was an American applied mathematician, who introduced dynamic programming in 1953, and made important contributions in other fields of mathematics, such as biomathematics. He founde ...
: Mathematician known for his work on dynamic programming
Dynamic programming is both a mathematical optimization method and a computer programming method. The method was developed by Richard Bellman in the 1950s and has found applications in numerous fields, from aerospace engineering to economics.
I ...
* Yoram Ben-Porat: economist and President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
* 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 the RAND Corporation in the 1960s and had helped define the ARPANET in the early phases of that program
* Harold L. Brode
Harold L. Brode is a nuclear weapons, nuclear-weapons-effects physicist who pioneered computer simulations of nuclear explosions at the RAND Corporation in the 1950s. In 1951, he received his PhD from Cornell University where his supervisor was Han ...
: physicist, leading nuclear weapons effects expert
* Bernard Brodie: Military strategist and nuclear architect
* Samuel Cohen: inventor of the neutron bomb
A neutron bomb, officially defined as a type of enhanced radiation weapon (ERW), is a low-yield thermonuclear weapon designed to maximize lethal neutron radiation in the immediate vicinity of the blast while minimizing the physical power of the b ...
in 1958
* Franklin R. Collbohm: Aviation engineer, Douglas Aircraft Company
The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...
, RAND founder and former director and trustee.
* Walter Cunningham
Ronnie Walter Cunningham (born March 16, 1932) is a retired American astronaut. In 1968, he was a lunar module pilot on the Apollo 7 mission. He was NASA's third civilian astronaut (after Neil Armstrong and Elliot See), and has also been a ...
: astronaut
* George Dantzig
George Bernard Dantzig (; November 8, 1914 – May 13, 2005) was an American mathematical scientist who made contributions to industrial engineering, operations research, computer science, economics, and statistics.
Dantzig is known for his ...
: mathematician, creator of the simplex algorithm
In mathematical optimization, Dantzig's simplex algorithm (or simplex method) is a popular algorithm for linear programming.
The name of the algorithm is derived from the concept of a simplex and was suggested by T. S. Motzkin. Simplices are n ...
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 are represented by linear function#As a polynomial function, li ...
* Linda Darling-Hammond
Linda Darling-Hammond (December 21, 1951) is an American academic who is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. She was also the President and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute. She ...
: educational researcher, co-director, School Redesign Network
* Merton Davies: mathematician, pioneering planetary scientist
* Michael H. Decker: Senior International Defense Research Analyst
* James F. Digby: American military strategist, author of first treatise on precision guided munitions
A precision-guided munition (PGM, smart weapon, smart munition, smart bomb) is a guided munition intended to precisely hit a specific target, to minimize collateral damage and increase lethality against intended targets. During the First Gul ...
1949–2007
* Stephen H. Dole: Author of the book ''Habitable Planets for Man
''Habitable Planets For Man'' is a work by Stephen Dole, first edition published by Blaisdell Publishing Company, A division of Ginn and Company, copyright 1964 by The RAND Corporation. Originally 158 pages, it was republished in a posthumous s ...
'' and head of Rand's Human Engineering Group
* Donald Wills Douglas, Sr.
Donald Wills Douglas Sr. (April 6, 1892 – February 1, 1981) was an American aircraft industrialist and engineer.
An aviation pioneer, he designed and built the Douglas Cloudster. Though it failed in its intended purpose—being the first to ...
: President, Douglas Aircraft Company
The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...
, RAND founder
* Hubert Dreyfus
Hubert Lederer Dreyfus (; October 15, 1929 – April 22, 2017) was an American philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. His main interests included phenomenology, existentialism and the philosophy of bo ...
: philosopher and critic of artificial intelligence
* Karen Elliott House
Karen Elliott House (born December 7, 1947) is an American journalist and former managing editor at ''The Wall Street Journal'' and its parent company Dow Jones. She served as President of Dow Jones International and then publisher of the Wall St ...
: Chairman of the Board, 2009–present, former publisher, ''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
''; Former Senior Vice President, Dow Jones & Company
Dow Jones & Company, Inc. 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'', ''Financial News'' and ''Private Equ ...
, Inc.
* Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg (born April 7, 1931) is an American political activist, and former United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, Ellsberg precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the ''Pent ...
: economist and leaker of the Pentagon Papers
The ''Pentagon Papers'', officially titled ''Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force'', is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States in the Vietnam War, United States' political and military ...
* Alain Enthoven: economist, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1965, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Analysis from 1965-1969
* 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 na ...
senior director
* Francis Fukuyama
Francis Yoshihiro Fukuyama (; born October 27, 1952) is an American political scientist, political economist, international relations scholar and writer.
Fukuyama is known for his book ''The End of History and the Last Man'' (1992), which argue ...
: academic and author of ''The End of History and the Last Man
''The End of History and the Last Man'' is a 1992 book of political philosophy by American political scientist Francis Fukuyama which argues that with the ascendancy of Western liberal democracy—which occurred after the Cold War (1945–1991) ...
''
* Horace Rowan Gaither: Chairman of the Board, 1949–1959, 1960–1961; known for the Gaither Report
''Deterrence & Survival in the Nuclear Age'', commonly referred to as the Gaither report, is a report submitted in November 1957 to the United States National Security Council and the U.S. president concerning strategy to prepare against the perce ...
.
* David Galula
David Galula (10 January 191911 May 1967) was a French military officer and scholar who was influential in developing the theory and practice of counterinsurgency warfare.
Early life
Born in Sfax, then part of the French protectorate of Tunisia ...
, French officer and scholar
* James J. Gillogly: cryptographer
Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...
and computer scientist
A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science.
Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...
* Paul Y. Hammond Paul Young Hammond (February 24, 1929 – March 9, 2012) was an American foreign policy and security studies scholar. He was Distinguished Service Professor (Emeritus after 2004) at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and Interna ...
: political scientist and national security scholar, affiliated 1964–79, program director 1973–76
* Anthony C. Hearn
Anthony C. Hearn is an Australian-American computer scientist and adjunct staff member at RAND Corporation and at the Institute for Defense Analyses Center for Computing Sciences. He is best known for his pioneering contributions in mathematic ...
: developed the REDUCE
Reduction, reduced, or reduce may refer to:
Science and technology Chemistry
* Reduction (chemistry), part of a reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction in which atoms have their oxidation state changed.
** Organic redox reaction, a redox react ...
computer algebra system, the oldest such system still in active use; co-founded the CSNET The Computer Science Network (CSNET) was a computer network that began operation in 1981 in the United States. Its purpose was to extend networking benefits, for computer science departments at academic and research institutions that could not be di ...
computer network
* Andrew R. Hoehn, Senior Vice President, Research and Analysis
* Fred Iklé
Fred Charles Iklé (August 21, 1924 – November 10, 2011) was a Swiss-American sociologist and defense expert. Iklé's expertise was in defense and foreign policy, nuclear strategy, and the role of technology in the emerging international order. ...
: US nuclear policy researcher
* Brian Michael Jenkins
Brian Michael Jenkins (born 1942) is an American expert on terrorism and transportation security. During his nearly four decades of analysis, Jenkins has advised governments, private corporations, the Catholic Church, and the Church of England on t ...
: terrorism expert, Senior Advisor to the President of the RAND Corporation, and author of ''Unconquerable Nation
'' Unconquerable Nation: Knowing Our Enemy, Strengthening Ourselves'' () is a book written by Brian Michael Jenkins, one of the world's foremost authorities on terrorism. In it the author asserts that some of United States, America's recent approa ...
''
* Herman Kahn
Herman Kahn (February 15, 1922 – July 7, 1983) was a founder of the Hudson Institute and one of the preeminent futurists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He originally came to prominence as a military strategist and systems theo ...
: theorist on nuclear war 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 gener ...
* Amrom Harry Katz
* Konrad Kellen
Konrad Kellen (born ''Konrad Moritz Adolf Katzenellenbogen''; December 14, 1913 – April 8, 2007) was a German-born American political scientist, intelligence analyst and author.
At different points in his career, Kellen analyzed postwar German s ...
: research analyst and author, co-wrote open letter to U.S. government in 1969 recommending withdrawal from Vietnam war
* Zalmay Khalilzad
Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad ( ps, ځلمی خلیل زاد, prs, زلمی خلیلزاد; born March 22, 1951) is an Afghan-American diplomat and foreign policy expert. Khalilzad was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to serve as U.S. Specia ...
: U.S. ambassador to United Nations
* Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
: United States Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state 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 office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
(1973–1977); National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils.
National sec ...
(1969–1975); Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
Winner (1973)
* Ann McLaughlin Korologos
Ann McLaughlin Korologos (born Ann Marie Lauenstein; November 16, 1941), formerly known as Ann Dore McLaughlin, is an American corporate executive who served as the 19th United States secretary of labor from 1987 to 1989.
Life and career
Korolog ...
: 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 politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...
'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, he served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2017. Mabus previously served as the State Auditor ...
: Former ambassador, governor
* Harry Markowitz
Harry Max Markowitz (born August 24, 1927) is an American economist who received the 1989 John von Neumann Theory Prize and the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Markowitz is a professor of finance at the Rady School of Management ...
: economist, greatly advanced financial portfolio theory by devising mean variance analysis, Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
* 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 currently serves as president and CEO of the RAND Corporation. Previously, he was a senior civil servant in the Biden Administration. He served as deputy assistant to the presiden ...
: selected as President and CEO of The RAND Corporation in 2022
* Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s.
She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Co ...
: U.S. anthropologist
* Douglas Merrill
Douglas Clark Merrill (born 1970) is an American technologist and fintech entrepreneur. He grew up in Arkansas and graduated from the University of Tulsa, majoring in social and political organization. Merrill attended Princeton University, where ...
: former Google CIO & President of EMI's digital music division
* Newton N. Minow
Newton Norman Minow (born January 17, 1926) is an American attorney and former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission. He is famous for his speech referring to television as a " vast wasteland". While still maintaining a law practice, Mi ...
: Chairman of the board, 1970–1972
* John Milnor
John Willard Milnor (born February 20, 1931) is an American mathematician known for his work in differential topology, algebraic K-theory and low-dimensional holomorphic dynamical systems. Milnor is a distinguished professor at Stony Brook Uni ...
: mathematician, known for his work in differential topology
* Chuck Missler
Charles W. Missler (May 28, 1934 – May 1, 2018) was an American author, evangelical Christian, Bible teacher, engineer, and businessman.
Business career
Missler graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1956 and received a Master's degree in ...
: Bible Teacher, Engineer, Chairman and CEO Western Digital
* Lloyd N. Morrisett: Chairman of the board, 1986–1995
* John Forbes Nash, Jr.
John Forbes Nash Jr. (June 13, 1928 – May 23, 2015) was an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory, real algebraic geometry, differential geometry, and partial differential equations. Nash and fellow ga ...
: mathematician, won the Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
* John von Neumann
John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...
: mathematician, pioneer of the modern digital computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These pro ...
* Allen Newell
Allen Newell (March 19, 1927 – July 19, 1992) was a 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 Department ...
: artificial intelligence
* Paul O'Neill: Chairman of the board, 1997–2000
* Edmund Phelps
Edmund Strother Phelps (born July 26, 1933) is an American economist and the recipient of the 2006 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Early in his career, he became known for his research at Yale's Cowles Foundation in the first half of ...
: winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
* Arthur E. Raymond: Chief engineer, Douglas Aircraft Company
The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...
, RAND founder
* Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...
: 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–present
* Leo Rosten
Leo Calvin Rosten (Yiddish: ; April 11, 1908 – February 19, 1997) was an American humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism, and Yiddish lexicography.
Early life
Rosten was born into a Yiddish-speaking family in Łódź ...
: academic and humorist, helped set up the social sciences division of RAND
* Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Presi ...
: 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
A vactrain (or vacuum tube train) is a proposed design for very-high-speed rail transportation. It is a maglev (magnetic levitation) line using partly evacuated tubes or tunnels. Reduced air resistance could permit vactrains to travel at very hig ...
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
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
* Thomas C. Schelling
Thomas Crombie Schelling (April 14, 1921 – December 13, 2016) was an American economist and professor of foreign policy, national security, nuclear strategy, and arms control at the School of Public Policy at University of Maryland, Colle ...
: economist, won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
* James Schlesinger
James Rodney Schlesinger (February 15, 1929 – March 27, 2014) was an American economist and public servant who was best known for serving as Secretary of Defense from 1973 to 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to ...
: former secretary of defense and former secretary of energy
* Dov Seidman
Dov Seidman (born May 13, 1964) is an American author, columnist and businessman. He is the founder, chairman and former CEO of LRN (company), LRN, an ethics and regulatory compliance, compliance management firm. He is also the author of ''How (b ...
: lawyer, businessman and CEO of LRN
* Norman Shapiro
Norman Zalmon Shapiro was an American mathematician, who was the co-author of the Rice–Shapiro theorem.
Education
Shapiro obtained a BS in Mathematics at University of Illinois in 1952.
Shapiro spent the summer of 1954 at Bell Laboratories in ...
: mathematician, co-author of the Rice–Shapiro theorem In computability theory, the Rice–Shapiro theorem is a generalization of Rice's theorem, and is named after Henry Gordon Rice and Norman Shapiro
Norman Zalmon Shapiro was an American mathematician, who was the co-author of the Rice–Shapiro t ...
, MH Email and RAND-Abel co-designer
* Lloyd Shapley
Lloyd Stowell Shapley (; June 2, 1923 – March 12, 2016) was an American mathematician and Nobel Prize-winning economist. He contributed to the fields of mathematical economics and especially game theory. Shapley is generally considered one of ...
: mathematician and game theorist, won the Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
* 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 Solve ...
: inventor of the linked list and co-author of the first artificial intelligence program
* Abram Shulsky
Abram Shulsky (born August 15, 1942) is a neoconservative scholar who has worked for the U.S. government, RAND Corporation, and the Hudson Institute. Shulsky served as Director of the Office of Special Plans, a unit whose function has been comp ...
: former Director of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans
An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...
* Herbert Simon: Political scientist, psychologist, won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
* James Steinberg
James Braidy Steinberg (born May 7, 1953) is an American academic and political advisor, and former United States Deputy Secretary of State. He has served as the dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns H ...
: Deputy National Security Advisor to Bill Clinton
* Ratan Tata
Ratan Naval Tata, GBE (born 28 December 1937) is an Indian industrialist and former chairman of Tata Sons. He was also the chairman of the Tata Group from 1990 to 2012, serving also as interim chairman from October 2016 through February 2017. ...
: Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons
Tata Sons Private Limited is the parent company of the Tata Group and holds the bulk of shareholding in the Tata group of companies including their land holdings across India, tea estates and steel plants. It is a privately owned conglomerate of ...
* James Thomson: RAND president and CEO, 1989 – 31 October 2011
* Willis Ware
Howard George Willis Ware (August 31, 1920 – November 22, 2013), popularly known as Willis Howard Ware was an American computer pioneer who co-developed the IAS machine that laid down the blueprint of the modern day computer in the late 20th ...
: JOHNNIAC
The JOHNNIAC was an early computer built by the RAND Corporation (not Remington Rand, maker of the contemporaneous UNIVAC I computer) and based on the von Neumann architecture that had been pioneered on the IAS machine. It was named in honor of ...
co-designer, and early computer privacy pioneer
* William H. Webster
William Hedgcock Webster (born March 6, 1924) is an American attorney and jurist who most recently served as chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council from 2005 until 2020. He was a United States district judge of the United States Distr ...
: Chairman of the Board, 1959–1960
* Oliver Williamson
Oliver Eaton Williamson (September 27, 1932 – May 21, 2020) was an American economist, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, which he shared with Elinor Ostro ...
: economist, won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
* Albert Wohlstetter
Albert James Wohlstetter (December 19, 1913 – January 10, 1997) was an American political scientist noted for his influence on U.S. nuclear strategy during the Cold War. He and his wife Roberta Wohlstetter, an accomplished historian and intell ...
: mathematician and Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
strategist
* Roberta Wohlstetter
Roberta Mary Morgan (married name Roberta Wohlstetter) (August 22, 1912 – January 6, 2007) was one of a historian of American military intelligence. She authored ''Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision'', which former Secretary of Defense Donal ...
: policy analyst and military historian
See also
* ''A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates
''A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates'' is a random number book by the RAND Corporation, originally published in 1955. The book, consisting primarily of a random number table, was an important
20th century work in the field of ...
'' (published by RAND)
References
Further reading
Books
* Alex Abella. ''Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire'' (2008, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Financial Dist ...
hardcover; / 2009, Mariner Books
Mariner Books, originally an imprint of HMH Books, was established in 1997 as a publisher of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry in trade paperback. Mariner is also the publisher of the Harvest backlist, formerly published by Harcourt Brace/Harcou ...
paperback reprint edition; ).
* S.M. Amadae. ''Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism'' (2003, University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...
paperback; / hardcover; ).
* Martin J. Collins. ''Cold War Laboratory: RAND, the Air Force, and the American State, 1945–1950'' (2002, Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
Scholarly Press hardcover, part of the Smithsonian History of Aviation and Spaceflight Series; )
* Joe Flood. ''The Fires: How a Computer Formula Burned Down New York City—and Determined the Future of American Cities,'' 2010, Riverhead Books, (ISBN13: 9781594488986) -- 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 fif ...
), Vol. XV, Issue 2, Spring 2016, page 32.
* Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi. ''The Worlds of Herman Kahn: The Intuitive Science of Thermonuclear War'' (2005, Harvard University Press; )
* Agatha C. Hughes and Thomas P. Hughes
Thomas Parke Hughes (September 13, 1923 – February 3, 2014) was an American historian of technology. He was an emeritus professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania and a visiting professor at MIT and Stanford.
He received his Ph.D. ...
(editors). ''Systems, Experts, and Computers: The Systems Approach in Management and Engineering, World War II and After'' (2000, The MIT Press
The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962.
History
The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...
hardcover, part of the Dibner Institute Studies in the History of Science and Technology; / 2011, paperback reprint edition; ).
* David Jardini. ''Thinking Through the Cold War: RAND, National Security and Domestic Policy, 1945–1975'' (2013, Smashwords; Amazon Kindle; ).
* Fred Kaplan. ''The Wizards of Armageddon'' (1983, Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
hardcover, first printing; / 1991, Stanford University Press
Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officially ...
paperback, part of the Stanford Nuclear Age Series; ).
* Edward S. Quade and Wayne I. Boucher (editors), ''Systems Analysis and Policy Planning: Applications in Defense'' (1968, American Elsevier hardcover).
* Bruce L.R. Smith
The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...
. ''The RAND Corporation: Case Study of a Nonprofit Advisory Corporation'' (1966, Harvard University Press / 1969; ).
* Marc Trachtenberg Marc Trachtenberg (born February 9, 1946) is a professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his Ph.D in History from the University of California, Berkeley in 1974 and taught for many years for the history ...
. ''History and Strategy'' (1991, Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
paperback; / hardcover; ).
* Jean Loup Samaan. '' La Rand Corporation '' (2013, Cestudec Press)
Articles
* Clifford, Peggy, ed. "RAND and The City". ''Santa Monica Mirror
The ''Santa Monica Mirror'' is a weekly community newspaper which covers Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 20 ...
'', 27 October 1999 – 2 November 1999. Five-part series includes:
* Miller, Arthur Selwyn, reviewer, book review
"Smith: ''The Rand Corporation: Case Study of a Nonprofit Advisory'',"
June 1966, ''Florida Law Review
The ''Florida Law Review'' is a bimonthly law review published by the University of Florida's Fredric G. Levin College of Law. The review was established in 1948 as the ''University of Florida Law Review'' and it assumed its current name in 1989. ...
,'' Volume 19, Issue 1, Article 15.
* Specht, R.D. "Rand: A Personal View of Its History," ''Operations Research,'' vol. 8, no. 6 (Nov.–Dec. 1960), pp. 825–839
In JSTOR
Documentary films and broadcast programs
''The RAND Corporation: A Brilliant Madness,''
historical documentary, ''American Experience
''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...
'' series, PBS-TV
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
—also detailed a
"A Brilliant Madness."
"The RAND Corporation,"
(program listings), ''PBS News Hour
''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events.
Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the progr ...
,'' PBS-TV
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
"Daniel Ellsberg: Willing to Risk Prosecution,"
'' POV'' series, PBS-TV
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
- (als
trailer
External links
Official website
*
The Research and Development (RAND) Corporation
from the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is an institutional archives and library system comprising 21 branch libraries serving the various Smithsonian Institution museums and research centers. The Libraries and Archives serve Smithsonian Institution ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rand Corporation
Think tanks established in 1948
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers
Political and economic think tanks in the United States
Companies based in Santa Monica, California
Science and technology think tanks
Non-profit organizations based in California
Human overpopulation think tanks
Population research organizations
1948 establishments in California
Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States
Think tanks based in the United States