Jordan R Fischbach

The Army expects that the performance of ground forces can be enhanced by improving the networks that tie them together and taking advantage of their special properties. Army networks are used for command and control, intelligence, maneuver, fires, and logistics; they process, store, and transport the information used by the Army. Ultimately these networks extend into the minds of soldiers and leaders and into their interactions with each other.

For the purposes of capability development planning, RAND Project AIR FORCE focuses on analytical methods that can be used for decisionmaking under conditions of deep uncertainty about the future threat environment, rate of technological advancement, and budgeting. Such methods can also inform investment trades across warfighting domains and functional areas, as well as other responsibilities of the Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability.

Communities, companies, and governments at all levels in the United States are making decisions that will influence where, what and how infrastructure will be built. This report describes insights about exposures from natural hazards now and in the future, as well as gaps in data that, if filled, could improve the nation s ability to assess infrastructure risk and improve infrastructure resilience."

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and its partners develop implementation plans to meet water quality standards. Climate change and other key drivers may significantly affect these plans, but are often neglected due to uncertainty. This study uses two case studies to demonstrate how Robust Decision Making (RDM) can help to address future uncertainty by identifying vulnerabilities in water quality plans and suggesting appropriate responses.

Based on the premise that investing in hazard risk mitigation will reduce spending on recovery and response, the federal Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program recognizes that equity issues are important in helping communities? mitigation efforts. Researchers identified ways to address these issues while enhancing the accuracy of natural hazard assessment in future BRIC grant decisionmaking, as described in this report.

Urban stormwater management is a growing challenge in many U. S. cities, and climate change is expected to add to this challenge. RAND researchers apply simulation modeling and economic valuation to estimate the potential benefits and costs of a green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) system in Pittsburgh's Negley Run watershed. The authors evaluate a series of GSI investments and make recommendations for how local actors should proceed.

To support development of Puerto Rico's short- and long-term recovery and resilience plan, experts conducted a comprehensive assessment of the commonwealth's challenges and the damage caused by the 2017 hurricanes. They identified short- and longer-term needs for Puerto Rico to recover and to build resilience to future storms; economic, social, and environmental trends; and ongoing governance challenges. This report summarizes their work.

The U. S. Coast Guard's motto is Semper Paratus--always ready. But for what? This report describes an approach to developing scenarios to aid in decisionmaking under deep uncertainty through the Evergreen strategic foresight initiative. The scenarios presented here focus on readiness, but the approach can be adapted for other contexts.

Gaza has long had water and sanitation challenges, but today it is in a state of emergency. Its aquifer is polluted and depleted, and more than 108,000 cubic meters of untreated sewage flow daily from Gaza into the Mediterranean Sea. The authors describe the relationship between Gaza's water problems and its energy challenges, examine the implications of the water crisis for public health, and recommend steps to avert a regional disaster.

This project implemented a participatory process with key stakeholders to evaluate current and potential future resilience-related investments in Jamaica Bay. The process was designed to consider baywide concepts that could reduce future flood risk exposure while also improving water quality, restoring habitat in and around the bay, and more generally improving resilience to extreme weather events.

This report provides an independent study of how the stormwater problem in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metropolitan region could grow with future climate, land use, or population change, and discusses potential long-term solutions using new analytical approaches developed by RAND. The analysis provides a baseline of scientific information intended to support ongoing regional coordination around stormwater management and water-quality planning.

This report serves as the technical documentation and reference document for the data, methods, and analytic approach used in the analysis of national exposures to infrastructure from natural disasters. The analysis includes 11 natural hazards and five infrastructure sectors. Analytic findings about current and future exposures of infrastructure in the United States drawn from this data analysis are documented in a separate report.

This report highlights RAND s contributions to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority s Master Plan. Its purpose is to help policymakers in other coastal regions understand the value of a solid technical foundation to support decision-making on strategies to reduce flood risk, rebuild or restore coastal environments, and increase the resilience of developed coastal regions."

The 2012 Colorado River Basin Study evaluated the resiliency of the Colorado River system over the next 50 years to climate change and other factors, and then compared different options and strategies for ensuring successful management of the river s resources. This report describes RAND s contribution to this study. It focuses on the Robust Decision Making methodologies used to identify vulnerabilities and compare portfolios of options."

Describes the Coastal Louisiana Risk Assessment (CLARA) model developed by RAND to estimate flood depths and damage that occurs as a result of major storms in Louisiana's coastal region. CLARA made it possible to evaluate potential projects for inclusion in the Louisiana's 2012 Coastal Master Plan on the basis of how well they reduce flood damage over the next fifty years. Also describes damage reduction provided by the final Master Plan.