The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit 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 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 ...

. 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, ...

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, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

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 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 decis ...

Overview

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

Santa Monica, California 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 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

(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 ...

;

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

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 ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. The RAND Gulf States Policy Institute has an office in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

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 College town, 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. Cam ...

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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, 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, Australia. RAND is home to the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School, 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 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 with research and development 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'' was released.

RAND Corporation

By late 1947, Douglas had expressed their concerns that their close relationship with RAND might create conflict of interest 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 Universit ...

social welfare programs, the digital revolution, and national health care. Its most visible contribution may be 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 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 ...

and based upon their work with game theory. Chief strategist Herman Kahn also posited the idea of a "winnable" nuclear exchange in his 1960 book '' On Thermonuclear 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 ...

. 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 r ...

. 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 of offenders, preventing other ...

, 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, 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 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 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 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 i ...

,''

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"
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 ...

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022Heilbrunn, 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 na ...

,'' 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, ''

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022 * City governmentClines, 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 ''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,"
2015, NFPA 2015 Responder Forum, National Fire Protection Association (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), Vol. XV, Issue 2, Spring 2016, page 32, retrieved November 24, 2022 *

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by 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 Vietnam a ...

Naughton, James M.
"Federal Warrant Is Issued For the Arrest of Ellsberg,"
June 26, 1971, ''

,'' 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 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, 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 is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

, ; 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 The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. 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,"
June 25, 1974, Page 36, ''

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022 *

Alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

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

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022 *

Auto insurance Vehicle insurance (also known as car insurance, motor insurance, or auto insurance) is insurance for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage or bodily injur ...

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

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

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

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022 * Gun controlIngraham, Christopher
"The best available evidence suggests NRA-backed gun policies are making crime worse,"
March 2, 2018, ''

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022Brown, Aaron and Justin Monticello
"Do Studies Show Gun Control Works? No."
March 31, 2022, ''

,'' retrieved November 24, 2022 -- reviewed a
"Video Obliterates Anti-Gun Junk Science,"
April 11, 2022, National Rifle Association, retrieved November 24, 2022Stolberg, Sheryl Gay
"Can New Gun Violence Research Find a Path Around the Political Stalemate?,"
March 27, 2021, updated April 2, 2021, ''

,'' 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

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 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, 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, won the

. * 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 into '' packets'' that are transmitted over a digital network. Packets are made of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used by networking hardware to direct the p ...

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

* Richard Bellman: 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. ...

* Yoram Ben-Porat: economist and President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem *

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, 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 *

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. Sh ...

: 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 1949–2007 * 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 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, Inc. * Daniel Ellsberg: 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' political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 ...

* 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 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. * David Galula, 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 * 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 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: 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: 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: 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 (; ; 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 (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 Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

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'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,

* 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 C ...

: 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 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 Univ ...

: 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.: mathematician, won the

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 program ...

* Allen Newell: 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

* 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–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 Łód ...

: academic and humorist, helped set up the social sciences division of RAND * 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 " ...

: economist,

* Thomas C. Schelling: economist, won the 2005

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: 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

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: 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

* James Steinberg: 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 * 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

* Albert Wohlstetter: mathematician and Cold War 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

References

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

Overview

History

Project RAND

RAND Corporation

Mission

Achievements

Controversy

Notable participants

See also

References

Further reading

Books

Articles

Documentary films and broadcast programs

External links