Keith Gierlack

Attacks on soft targets and crowded places are a significant challenge. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security requires research and development to assess methods for reducing the propensity and loss of life from these types of attacks. Researchers conducted a comprehensive landscape assessment of the threat and corresponding security measures in order to identify needs for improvement, and they recommended research and investment priorities.

The U. S. Coast Guard is determining how many facilities handle certain dangerous cargoes and whether, according to a risk analysis, requiring those facilities to biometrically verify the Transportation Worker Identification Credential of every person accessing a secure area of such a facility would be cost-effective. This report answers those questions.

The authors examine how direct combat experience has shaped the way the U. S. military approaches training and how indirect experience outside combat has shaped the approach of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The authors then consider the extent to which training and operational model adaptations in both militaries have kept pace with an evolving global context and prepared the U. S. military and PLA for great power conflict.

Air Force activities to ensure resiliency to adversarial cyber operations are somewhat fractionated, with blurred lines of authority and no overall coordinating mechanisms to ensure that all related activities are identified, tasked, and implemented and act in concert to achieve enterprise objectives. The authors recommend better ways to manage, at the enterprise level, efforts to ensure resiliency of missions to adversarial cyber operations.

Increased use of the reserve component, particularly since September 11, 2001, and an expectation that this role will continue and possibly increase in the future has renewed interest in the question of the appropriate number of reserve component general and flag officers (RC G/FOs). RAND researchers conducted a review of requirements and authorized strength for RC G/FOs.

Because license plate reader (LPR) technology is relatively new in the United States, opportunities and obstacles in its use in law enforcement are still under exploration. To examine issues about this technology, RAND conducted interviews with law enforcement personnel, police officers, and others responsible for procuring, maintaining, and operating the systems.