Diana Gehlhaus

The U. S. Air Force has embarked on a new round of strategic planning under the auspices of its 2015 Strategic Master Plan (SMP). This report represents a general survey of the state of the art in strategy and planning. We found that basic concept and approach of the SMP has promise, but its emphasis on pre-set planning could obstruct, rather than facilitate, its objectives.

The United States newest military service, the U. S. Space Force (USSF), has a unique opportunity to take advantage of the widening range of commercial capabilities and create a new culture and new management processes to respond to the growing challenges presented by potential adversaries in space. The authors describe an unconstrained ?clean sheet? approach to space acquisition for USSF designed around the new service's unique mission.

RAND Corporation researchers reviewed metrics for evaluating research portfolios used by medical research organizations and appraised their characteristics and trade-offs associated with their use. This report presents the results, categorized using a logic-model approach, to help organizations responsible for research portfolios to select, develop, and revise the metrics they use in their evaluations.